Gluten-free labels are not identical worldwide: what shoppers need to know

Australia and New Zealand

Reading these labels is a skill for after diagnosis: taking gluten out before testing is what makes the results unreliable ^[1].

FSANZ states that current gluten-free claims require no detectable gluten and cannot be made on foods containing oats or oat products ^[4]. Coeliac Australia describes this as stricter than the threshold-based systems used in several overseas markets ^[2].

For an Australian reader, an imported package still needs to comply with Australian requirements when sold with the claim locally; internet recipes, however, may have been written for a different label environment.

Sources for this section: [1] Diagnosis · [4] Product exemptions from allergen labelling · [3] Oats commonly asked questions

United States

The FDA gluten-free rule uses less than 20 ppm unavoidable gluten and permits non-gluten grains such as oats to carry a gluten-free claim if the food complies ^[5].

This does not make the US rule “wrong”; it means a globally published recipe should not use the words “gluten-free oats” as if they describe one universally available category.

Sources for this section: [5] Questions and Answers on the Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule

What to do with packaged ingredients

For a recipe, naturally gluten-free whole foods reduce some label complexity, but sauces, stocks, spice blends, baking ingredients and processed foods may still require package checks.

The site should tell readers what property matters and to use the label actually sold in their region. It cannot certify a manufacturer’s production line from afar.

Sources for this section: [2] Gluten-free diet · [4] Product exemptions from allergen labelling · [5] Questions and Answers on the Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule

Why the cookbook uses a conservative baseline

A cookbook can make its own recipe eligibility simpler than the most permissive regional rule. Excluding oats is one example: it removes a region/tolerance decision from the recipe itself. Coeliac Australia notes that a minority of people with coeliac disease react to avenin, the oat protein, which is why oat tolerance is assessed individually rather than assumed ^[3].

That approach should not be confused with choosing the smallest numerical threshold for every health topic. It is appropriate here because the decision is categorical ingredient eligibility and exclusion is practical and nutritionally replaceable.

Sources for this section: [3] Oats commonly asked questions · [4] Product exemptions from allergen labelling · [5] Questions and Answers on the Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule