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>The proposed compulsory labeling of allergens is meeting opposition from
>the food producers as they fear product liability. It could in fact be also
>a threat to the business of producers of GF food, because with a mandatory
>labeling of the slightest amount of wheat there would be no reason for
>celiacs to buy special Gf food.
 
Even IF there was a requirement for 100% labeling of ALL ingredients
present in ANY amounts (I wish!) there would still be a very good market
for producers of GF food for two very important reasons:
 
1)   Because various grain derived products are so ubiquitous in
manufactured foods (especially considering  i) the use of grains as
feedstocks for various fermented products (or for the bacteria with which
they are innoculated!!) and ii) the use of grains in intermediate products
(will "textured vegetable protein list the vegetable of derivation (in some
systems of classification grains are considered vegetables)    (Such
INDIRECTLY added (and incidental and "unintended") ingredients are
currently almost never listed and, as far as I know, there is no indication
that they will be in the foreseeable future.)
 
2)  Many food products are virtually unobtainable without grain ingredients
(in spite of the fact that such inclusion may NOT be a fundamental
(non-manufacturing) requirement of such foods)  UNLESS they are obtained
from a manufacturer who specifically manufacturers food to be gluten free.
Labeling laws are exceedingly unlikely to change this basic fact.
 
IMHO, gluten-free manufactures will BENEFIT from more complete labeling
laws as celiacs discover to their surprise that many foods they had thought
to be gluten free are not.
 
Jim Barron
Chapel Hill NC
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