Senator Parker Celebrates FDA Rulemaking for Gluten Free Labeling

Senator Parker Celebrates FDA Rulemaking for Gluten Free Labeling

After a delay of nearly a decade, the Food and Drug Administration finally released new rules defining what the phrase “gluten-free” means on food labels. The FDA’s action was a watershed moment for the millions of Americans with Celiac Disease or another form of gluten intolerance/sensitivity. 

“Now it will be possible for a parent to buy gluten free food for their children and have confidence that the food will be safe for their child to eat, and will not make their child ill,” said Senator Parker. “I am pleased the federal government has taken this commonsense step forward, and believe that it can greatly increase the protections for New York’s celiac sufferers, taken together with my celiac legislation: S.2094, which would mandate notices of gluten content on foods served in state owned or operated cafeterias, and S.4283, which requires the implementation of gluten cross contamination safeguards in state owned or operated eating establishments.”

Celiac disease, and the historic inability of celiac sufferers to get access to reliably gluten-free food, costs New York hundreds of millions of dollars in missed work, misdiagnoses and treatment.  The FDA’s action is an important step forward.

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About Senator Kevin Parker

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse Brooklyn community that consists of 318,000 constituents in Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope. He is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee and the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Assistant Democratic Leader for Intergovernmental Affairs, and Chair of the Democratic Task Force on New Americans.