Over the course of the past month, the GF world has been atwitter (I checked my dictionary and this is a real word that far predates Twitter) with the news that, in the U.S., there’s now some regulatory oversight of gluten-free beer, its labeling, and its contents. Just type “fda gluten free beer” into Google or your favorite search engine and you’ll see what I mean. Perhaps the most widely circulated and cited article is one that appeared in USA Today.
However, I’ve come across a surprising (and disturbing) amount of misinformation on the topic, and so I wanted to set the record straight, lest you be led astray by writers and bloggers who haven’t done their research (or just plain got it wrong).
Here’s what you need to know, in a nutshell: Beer is normally regulated under the authority of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). However, the Federal Alcohol Administration Act officially defines beer as a “malted beverage,” and a malted beverage – in turn – is officially defined as containing barley. But, since gluten-free beers don’t contain barley, then as far as the U.S. federal government is concerned, they’re not actually beers. Which makes them…foods or drinks. And that brings them under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That shift was agreed to last year, but only formally took place earlier this summer. On the heels of that transition of gluten-free beer regulatory power, the FDA – in Aug 2009 – released its Guidance for Industry document on the labeling of GF beer.
There are no surprises here. Beer will now be labeled just as any other food would be – it will be required to have a nutrition panel, list of ingredients, declaration of major food allergens, etc. In other words, it will have to conform to all food labeling standards, and brewers have until 2012 to comply.
But here’s where articles like the one in USA Today err… They claim that: a) “…these beverages can now officially be labeled gluten-free once they’ve been tested and confirmed by FDA” (FALSE), b) “Up until now, [Celiacs] couldn’t be certain that a beer that claimed to be gluten-free really was. Under FDA regulations, there’s a standard for it.” (FALSE), and c) that the officially adopted standard is 20ppm (also FALSE).
I’ll address each falsity listed in the previous paragraph:
a) gluten-free beers will not be “tested and confirmed” by the FDA. It is the responsibility of any food producer (and now, gluten-free brewer) to perform or contract its own testing, and to ensure that it meets the FDA’s labeling requirements. Gluten-free beers can be labeled as such under the FDA because at present, the FDA doesn’t regulate the term. All gluten-free claims on any foods you buy are placed their voluntarily by the company that makes the product, and those companies are applying their own definition of the term in using it.
b) there is no FDA standard for gluten-free beers. All the FDA announcement does is make it clear that gluten-free beers are now under their regulatory authority, and that means that they have certain labeling requirements that weren’t imposed when GF beer was under the purview of the TTB.
c) there is no officially adopted 20ppm standard for GF beer. The FDA’s proposed ruling for defining “gluten-free” does include a standard of 20ppm, but that standard has yet to be adopted. Originally scheduled to complete in Aug 2008, the FDA is behind in concluding the approval process, with no target date for when the standard will become official.
So… treat gluten-free beer the way you would any gluten-free food you buy. 1) Scrutinize the label and read for ingredients that may contain gluten, and watch for allergen declarations such as “contains: wheat.” Ensure that the beverage you’re buying is in fact free of ingredients that would contain gluten. 2) Ask yourself whether or not the GF beer might be cross-contaminated. For example, Redbridge brews in a dedicated GF facility. On the other hand, small local microbreweries almost certainly don’t have this luxury, so if you’re especially sensitive, exercise caution. (I’ve personally never had problems with cross-contamination with any GF beers I’ve tried…)
Ahh, the joys of negotiating the sometimes confusing world of government regulation (compounded by some shoddy reporting…). I think I need a drink…
– Pete