The FDA wants you to know if your beer is truly gluten free

 

As of Monday, the Food and Drug Administration will allow beer manufacturers to label their beers as gluten-free.  This is great news to the more than 1 in 100 people suffering from gluten-intolerance.

Traditionally, beer is made with barley, a grain that is not acceptable on the gluten-free diet.  Gluten-free beer manufacturers generally use sorghum or rice to replace the wheat and barley. 

Until recently, beer made from sorghum or rice was not considered to technically be a beer under The Federal Alcohol Administration Act of 1935's.  The Act  defined beer as a beverage brewed from malted barley.  Under the new guidelines, the FDA will allow beer manufactureres to label their beers gluten-free once they have been tested by the FDA.

Before the labeling laws were passed, consumers were at the mercy of the companies to tell us whether the beers were gluten-free.  There were no actual regulations.  Brewers of gluten-free beers have until Jan. 1, 2012, to begin adding nutrition labels to their products, including a declaration of major food allergens, which includes wheat.

Most gluten-intolerant folks have been purchasing gluten-free beers for years, but now it will be nice to know that the FDA is actually monitoring those saying the beers are gluten-free.

According to the Paul Gatza of The Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, gluten-free beer makes up less than 0.1% of the beer market.  The largest manufacturers of gluten-free beer in the US are Anheuser-Busch's Red Bridge, Klisch's Lakefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Bard's Tale from Norwalk, Connecticut.

Recipes made with Gluten-Free Beer
Gluten-free Beer Bread with Dill
Gluten-free Chocolate Beer Cake
Gluten-free Beer Batter Dinner Rolls