How Can Oats, Which Don’t Contain Gluten, Be Labeled ‘Gluten Free’?

I am so grateful for the gluten free labeling as a parent of a child who has anaphylactic allergies to wheat, barley and rye. If you regularly call food manufacturers (as I do) you would quickly find out how many foods are processed on lines with other foods you would never suspect, and could easily contain trace amounts of unlisted allergens. Companies are not required by law to disclose cross-contamination risk on packaging.

My wife and I were driving through a small town last summer, and passed a gas station promising Gluten Free Gasoline! It didn't taste gluten free. Jeez.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease two years ago. Before my diagnosis my doctors thought I might have an ulcer due to crippling stomach pain I was experiencing, and I was also diagnosed with severe eczema because my skin was flaking and peeling due to my autoimmune reaction. Accurate gluten free labeling is very important to those of us who suffer from this disease. Our bodies are extremely sensitive, and, as the article describes with relation to oats, I can no longer eat anything that was even processed on the same manufacturing line as wheat or another gluten-containing ingredient. Things I often can't eat now because of this include beans, lentils, ice cream (that cookie dough gets around!), certain brands of sriacha, certain brands of peanuts, french fries made in a shared fryer with breaded items, etc etc. While it can't be absorbed through the skin, even tiny amounts swallowed can add up to cause a reaction, and for this reason other items such as soaps, shampoos and cosmetics are sometimes labeled. YES, there are certainly people for whom gluten free is a "diet" fad. Thanks to them, those of us suffering from a serious illness are not taken seriously, and articles with headlines like this one don't exactly help our cause. You can learn more here: https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/understanding-celiac-disease-2/what-is...

I guess I'm confused by the question. Anything that has no gluten is factually "gluten-free," so I don't see any issue with them advertising it that way. Similarly, I would not object to beef being sold as "peanut-free," even though I would have assume it.

I always buy vodka-free milk when I shop. . . . . and we still use our Y2K compliant manual cheese grater. It’s perfectly acceptable and necessary to label items as gluten-free or GMO-free when a gluten-containing or GMO version of a food exists. It’s fear-mongering to label something GF or non-GMO when that item’s counterpart doesn’t exist. It’s a shamefully easy marketing ploy. Off to enjoy my GMO-free oatmeal-oh, wait - I wanted the GMO version . . . . Oh wait - that doesn’t exist.

It is a shame that so many comments are so scornful of the gluten-free community which has to take cross-contamination very seriously. If someone has a problem with gluten and mistakenly eats it, they are doomed to spending the rest of the week on the toilet, being very...unproductive. Or it can affect someone in other less obvious and immediate ways, such as triggering an autoimmune illness (see Dr. Alessio Fasano's published research findings in PubMed) or developing neurological problems (see "Misdiagnosed" by Jody Berger). With oats, cross-contamination can occur in the fields, in the harvesting process or the factory/handling process. Things happen with processed foods. In fact, a man I know worked at a factory that processes apples for cider. One night, a rat got onto the roller press, but workers were unable to STOP THE PRESSES before he got flattened with the apples. Were they later able to separate the rat juice from the apple juice? NO. We're all rolling the dice whenever we buy something in a bag or a bottle, or even in a carton.

maybe people dont know that they are gluten free and companies just want to inform uneducated people

Shouldn't this piece be better titled "Why a gluten free grain requires certification.." Or are the authors and editors on a gluten-free diet?

I recently bought a bag of potatoes that were labeled "gluten free, cholesterol free". Potatoes! I remarked how silly that is to the produce guy. He just shrugged.

Congrats to the NYT on their Pulitzers. Well-deserved. However, the articles & columns on gluten-free issues are always soooooo lousy. The comments section is often an indication of how wrong the information is. This is a complicated topic that so many people think they understand. Unfortunately, they really don't - the many incorrect comments here attest to this. NYT could do some more award-worthy Public Service by writing a thorough, well-researched article about the topic - speaking with multiple researchers, practicing physicians, and patients. I would certainly thank you! I'm sure many other gluten-free eaters would too as no media organization seems to get this right.

While I always purchase cleaning products without artificial dyes and fragrances, I recently found one that also labels itself as vegan, gluten free, and non-GMO. Since it's only for use on hard surfaces, I suppose it couldn't be used it to clean gluten-free sneakers.

A lot of gullible fools have jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon (even if they don't have celiac disease) because it promises wonders and people are lazy and dumb and want a magic cure.

On Sherman's Planet all they can get is Quadrotriticale. Unless Tribbles have eaten it.

How? Uh, by definition?

Dr. Green said he considers the labeling of products like water that are, by nature, free of gluten ”nonsensical,” noting that “one lady told me she was in Rhode Island and saw gluten-free sneakers.” __________ That is not unlike the "Non-GMO" label on products for which there is no GMO equivalent. Non-GMO water anyone? It's all about marketing to naive consumers.

SCAM ALERT! I went to Whole Foods to get some of that free gluten they were touting and there was none to be had. The only free stuff they had were little bits of chopped turnips in the veggie section and tiny cups of chicken soup over by the deli. No gluten to be had anywhere.

13 years ago my doctor told me to avoid gluten. I found out that I have a genetic predisposition to not be able to handle it. When I do eat it, it causes an autoimmune reaction that can lead to a long list of symptoms that most people write off as “getting older”. I was shocked when my doctor told me that if I continued to eat gluten on a regular basis it could lead to more serious diseases like celiac, diabetes, or even cancer. He said to avoid oats at first - unless they are labeled gluten-free - to avoid the cross contamination when manufacturers use the same equipment to process oats as with other harmful gluten grains. Whenever I did reintroduce gf oats into my diet I’d get stomach issues. Some folks can eat them, some can’t. For four years, I experienced daily pains that were later labeled as fibromyalgia, a condition that is increasingly understood as the immune system going into overdrive to protect itself, with gluten being one of the primary culprits. Gluten is addictive, and one is sensitive to it, morphine gets produced in the gut to offset intestinal wall pain while simultaneously producing a “feel good” response. I feel slight pains of “too much” after consuming it, so I stay away from it pretty much altogether. All grains have gluten, just some are more problematic. I hope more people begin to understand the above info lacking in this article and question the fantasy that common food is safe for everyone simply because it is so commonplace. Be informed.

This made me smile in the same way that "cholesterol free" advertised vegetable derived products makes me shake my head.

Should not somebody who writes an article about gluten, first get the terminology right? Gluten is a sticky protein in wheat, barley, rye, AND oats, naturally. But the gluten in oats is called avenin; the gluten in wheat, barley and rye is called gliadin. Shorthand, we use the broader term "gluten" in the place of of the more specific term "Gliadin". That's why we can call oats "gluten-free". And it is true that many people with a gliadin problem, are able to digest avenin. Some, however, are not. And no effort to label oats as "gluten-free" will make it so - it always will contain its specific gluten called avenin. For the people who think "gluten-free" is a health fad: It is not. Celiac disease is a severe autoimmune disease, with many consequences if neglected. Roughly 1 in 100 of people worldwide have gluten sensitivity. It's real (because it's in your genes), and it can't be wished away.

We traveled in Spain a few years ago with a friend who has severe celiac disease. In the U.S. she has to avoid gluten like the plague. However, Spain is daily fresh bread country, and she decided to risk it. In Spain, our friend suffered NO ill effects from eating wheat-based bread.

What a weird article...anything thats gluten free can be labeled that way so people know. I dont know everything that is or isnt...

Except for a very small minority of people, gluten free is a fad that will eventually disappear. How foods are labeled is a cynical attempt to take advantage of people's ignorance -- so if you take a 19 ounce glass of warm water and dissolve a tablespoon of butter in it you have a drink that is 95% fat free. So what?

Gluten-free marketing has gone way off the rails. I literally discovered one morning that my shampoo was "gluten-free."

One answer to the question that the title of the article asks is: The same way that broccoli has been--maybe still is--marketed as "cholesterol free." As George S has just commented, it's a way to increase sales.

As a fellow celiac household shopper, this labeling is important to me. I've purchased regular oats and baked with them, making my celiac family member sick. I now purchase only the certified GF oats and guess what: my celiac family member can eat what we prepare with them without being ill. I'm grateful that these products are increasingly available (and also frustrated that people who aren't celiac or even sensitive sometimes make it harder for celiacs to be treated seriously).

Not to be too cynical, nut honestly, they are simply making a truthful statement knowing that to a certain market segment - not those actually having celiac disease but for whom "gluten free" is more of a social identifier or mantra - it sells products. It is not untrue and thus not wrong. I've seen this on a number of products that have never had gluten in them by virtue of their content and it's laughable that they bear such a label - but it no doubt works and the companies are free to attack that market segment.

While I deeply respect Dr. Green's medical expertise as a worldwide expert on celiac, I wonder how much practical expertise in dealing with the day-to-day realities of maintaining a celiac-level strict GF diet. Certainly, he must not have to shop for someone who is celiac - otherwise he would be all in favor of greater labeling. (Before I had to deal with it, I thought it was dumb too. Well, the more you know ... ) From the standpoint of someone who now shops for a celiac household, it's extremely reassuring to see the GF label on items that theoretically should be GF (e.g., popcorn, potato chips, frozen shrimp, nuts, a plain milk chocolate bar) because it confirms that they are actually GF, and means that the manufacturer cared enough to test their products against the 20 ppm maximum. Plenty of theoretically-GF items bear the "prepared in a shared facility / on equipment also used to manufacture / may contain ...." disclaimers. (I've seen it on all of the items I listed above.) For someone with celiac, buying items with those disclaimers is a roll of the dice because those bland statements can don't really clarify how high the risk of cross-contamination is - they just establish that the risk is there. (And, because the disclaimer is optional, you can't infer from the absence of one that everything is fine.)

I think they do it because most people would assume oats do contain gluten since they're in the wheat family. It clarifies that oats are different. No one makes the mistake that there might be gluten in water. I think the letter writer is overthinking it.