Products made from wheat flour, such as bread, pizza, noodles and cakes, are popular foods on the table all over the world. However, there are people who can’t eat them. They are the people with wheat allergy or celiac disease who are sensitive to gluten, a mixture of proteins found in wheat and related grains. Meanwhile, rice is a grain but is gluten-free. Rice flour is attracting attention as healthy food and has growing potential for exports. The government should create a gluten-free labeling system for rice flour products which can be accepted at home and abroad.
There are a wide variety of good-tasting products made from wheat flour, but wheat is one of the major causes of food allergies which have become a serious social problem in Japan. As for babies and small children in particular, 5 to 10 percent have a food allergy of some kind, with wheat being the third most common cause after eggs and milk. Food allergy symptoms include rashes, stomachaches, vomiting, diarrhea and even respiratory distress in some cases, and parents bear a heavy burden to avoid allergy triggers.
To tackle the issue of food allergies, the government requires that food labels identify names of seven allergen ingredients – wheat, eggs, milk, buckwheat, peanuts, shrimps and crabs – under the Food Labeling Act. All processed food products that contain the food allergens should have the list printed on the package. Such labeling of ingredients is effective in avoiding allergens, but it is not enough. It is also necessary to identify safe, alternative food products for people with wheat allergy. This is where gluten-free labeling of rice flour products comes in.
Although rice does not contain gluten, the allergen could get into rice flour and products made from such flour during the process of drying rice, milling rice flour or producing rice flour products. Then how should the standards for gluten-free labeling be set? How should the labeling be done and authorized? An experts’ panel under the agriculture ministry is currently working on the issue with a plan to release a guideline by the end of March.
People with wheat allergy are not the only ones hoping for gluten-free labeling. Patients of celiac disease, a serious genetic autoimmune disorder where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine, are still underrepresented in Japan, but the number of such patients is said to total some 8 million in Western countries. Japan is also seeing increasing cases of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a condition similar to celiac disease but is non-hereditary. Tennis player Novak Djokovic was suffering from symptoms caused by gluten intolerance but managed to overcome the problem by introducing gluten-free diet.
Gluten-free labeling to identify food products containing 20 ppm or less gluten is introduced in the United States and European Union to help patients of celiac disease. But this is insufficient for people with wheat allergy, and some organizations are working on a labeling system to authorize products containing 10 ppm or less gluten. The agriculture ministry is mulling the possibility of adopting the strictest standard of 1 to 2 ppm or less, which is the detection limit, but the standard should be determined in view of the cost and trouble of preventing allergens from getting in during processing of rice flour products.
Understanding food standards for vegetarians has now become common sense in the food industry, and more efforts are being made to respond to Muslim requirements concerning halal foods. The time has come for the society to increase awareness for gluten-free products which are gaining popularity also among health-conscious people hoping to improve their diet. Introducing a gluten-free labeling system for rice flour products is significant, and the key to its success is to assure effectiveness and credibility.