US debuts actual gluten-free standard

[Lamplighter]

Such a number, by standing alone, by itself is hard to evaluate.
But it seems to have been set by technology...

The FDA's new rule says gluten free foods can't contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten.
Below that level, gluten can't be detected reliably and only very rare individuals would react to it.

A similar thing happened years ago with respect to lead in paint.
The health advocate community wanted lead levels to be set at zero,
based on the concept that "no level of lead is safe" for children.

But EPA made a similar sort of decision and set the level based on "detectable",
and and based on the amount of lead found in natural products (e.g., latex).