Is Modified Food Starch Gluten-Free and Safe for Celiacs?

2 hours ago, trents said:

But would that apply to online purchases? And can you trust the labels on food items that originate in other countries whose analysis and reporting standards are not as subject to scrutiny and verification as they would be in the U.S., Canada or Europe?

According to the FDA:

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for assuring that foods sold in the United States are safe, wholesome and properly labeled. This applies to foods produced domestically, as well as foods from foreign countries.

That's good to know. I think.

Scott, your comment here raised flags about who is responsible for labeling. And as it turns out, the FDA does not police this sort of thing: it's supposed to managed by the importer. The FDA only offers "suggestions"--whatever that means. So I contacted the FDA for clarification on some points.

I hope to get back to you with the reply, here. 

A class action suit or two would go along way towards ensuring those FDA regs were followed by the importers.

So as you may know I was involved in the food business. I founded and ran The Gluten-Free Mall for nearly 15 years. Food that is imported must have an FDA compliant label or it is not legal to import it. This is often when the food is in US Customs, and entire shipments are often seized due to lack of FDA compliance. It's not just a suggestion, but it is the law. There were many products in Europe that we wanted to sell over the years, but could not because they were not willing to either have separate packaging for the USA, or, do the more common method, stick USA complaint stickers on their packaging. This would include the nutritional values, as well as the ingredients and any allergens, etc.

37 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

So as you may know I was involved in the food business. I founded and ran The Gluten-Free Mall for nearly 15 years. Food that is imported must have an FDA compliant label or it is not legal to import it. This is often when the food is in US Customs, and entire shipments are often seized due to lack of FDA compliance. It's not just a suggestion, but it is the law. There were many products in Europe that we wanted to sell over the years, but could not because they were not willing to either have separate packaging for the USA, or, do the more common method, stick USA complaint stickers on their packaging. This would include the nutritional values, as well as the ingredients and any allergens, etc.

Good information, Scott, but did you mean these products were from Europe for potential sale on the USA or vice versa?

The products I referred to were European, and needed to comply with USA labeling standards before they could be imported. The expense of doing this was always a factor for companies when deciding whether or not to export their products to the USA. There is a whole industry around doing this, law firms that specialize in label compliance, import companies (who could lose their license if they import non-complaint product--all importers must use a licensed and bonded USA-based import company, and there are companies that specialize in foods), etc. It's expensive and only wide distribution and the volume of total sales make it worth it. 

If you saw an Asian product in a USA Asian supermarket, for example, which had a clearly non-compliant label, for example it had no ingredients listed, or not Nutritional Values, you could report that to the FDA, and they could immediately force a recall, and stop the product from being imported via the import company until the issue was resolved. So yes, there are lots of ways that compliance to our labeling regulations are enforced, but the main way is this requirement of having a licensed importer in the USA. It is really their job to verify that products they import have USA compliant labels before they are even shipped to the USA, otherwise they could lose their import license.

Thanks. Great info and gives me more confidence in the compliance end things. And no, I did not realize you founded and ran the gluten-free Mall.

13 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

The products I referred to were European, and needed to comply with USA labeling standards before they could be imported. The expense of doing this was always a factor for companies when deciding whether or not to export their products to the USA. There is a whole industry around doing this, law firms that specialize in label compliance, import companies (who could lose their license if they import non-complaint product--all importers must use a licensed and bonded USA-based import company, and there are companies that specialize in foods), etc. It's expensive and only wide distribution and the volume of total sales make it worth it. 

If you saw an Asian product in a USA Asian supermarket, for example, which had a clearly non-compliant label, for example it had no ingredients listed, or not Nutritional Values, you could report that to the FDA, and they could immediately force a recall, and stop the product from being imported via the import company until the issue was resolved. So yes, there are lots of ways that compliance to our labeling regulations are enforced, but the main way is this requirement of having a licensed importer in the USA. It is really their job to verify that products they import have USA compliant labels before they are even shipped to the USA, otherwise they could lose their import license.

Wow, Scott, those past 2 replies were SUPER-HELPFUL!  This is the sort of info that the FDA should have ON THEIR SITE, instead of being VAGUE. 

On 8/3/2020 at 11:19 AM, Guest Allan said:

So are Campbell soups made with 'modified food starch' gluten free?

In the USA modified food starch is gluten-free:

If manufactured in the USA then all or almost all products use corn for modified food starch and if not and wheat, barely or rye were used then I believe it would by regulation have to be specified.