Gluten-free label law set

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently set standards for the labeling of gluten-free food products.

Congress passed a law in 2004 that tasked the FDA with setting a limit on how much gluten is allowable in food labeled gluten-free, a guideline intended to protect consumers with the autoimmune disorder celiac disease, according to The New York Times.

The FDA has settled on a gluten limit of 20 parts per million, a level first proposed in 2007 that many food companies have long been using as a guide before the new rule was set. The need for a standard has increased dramatically in recent years, as U.S. consumers bought $4.2 billion in gluten-free foods in 2012—nearly three times that of sales in 2008.