The ADINA Act and new international guidance for “may contain” labels could both improve the information available to people with celiac disease. Neither changes the rules overnight, but both address a familiar problem: making health decisions with incomplete or confusing labels.
There is a lot happening in the celiac world. Here are two updates worth knowing about.
The ADINA Act
The ADINA Act, H.R. 3821, would require medication labels to identify ingredients that contain—or are derived from—the nine major food allergens or gluten-containing grains such as wheat, barley, and rye.
This matters because inactive ingredients may be listed without clearly identifying their source. That leaves patients, pharmacists, and healthcare providers trying to track down information that should be easier to find.
The bill has not passed yet. It is still proposed legislation, which means this is the time to contact your representatives and encourage them to support it.
You can learn more and find advocacy information at ADINAAct.com.
And yes, we all know why this matters. People should not have to investigate every medication like a detective just to determine whether an inactive ingredient may be derived from a gluten-containing grain.
New international guidance for “may contain” statements
The Codex Alimentarius Commission—the international food-standards body created by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization—has adopted new guidance for precautionary allergen statements such as “may contain.”
The goal is to make these warnings more meaningful.
Manufacturers should not add a “may contain” statement simply as a blanket legal precaution. Appropriate allergen controls should be used first. Then, a scientific risk assessment should determine whether a meaningful cross-contact risk remains.
If the risk can be adequately controlled, a warning should not be necessary. If a meaningful risk remains and cannot be controlled, a precautionary statement may be appropriate.
This could eventually help reduce two major problems:
Warnings that are added to nearly everything and become meaningless.
Products without warnings that may still carry a genuine cross-contact risk.
But there are important limitations.
This is international guidance, not an immediate change to United States labeling law. Countries would need to adopt or incorporate the guidance into their own regulations before it becomes enforceable.
Also, a “may contain wheat” statement is an allergen warning. It is not the same thing as a gluten-free claim or certification. Wheat is not the only gluten-containing grain, and food-allergy labeling and celiac-safe gluten labeling are not identical systems.
Neither of these developments fixes celiac life tomorrow.
But both move in the same direction: clearer information and fewer decisions based on incomplete or vague labels.
For people with celiac disease, information is not a luxury.
It is part of managing the disease.
Stay connected with Fat Celiac for more celiac news, research explained in plain English, and practical guidance for living gluten-free in a gluten-covered world.
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