FDA Friday

As humans, we are prone to categorization. She's a nerd, I'm a jock. Samantha's a blond ditz and Jackson is an Asian computer geek. We draw lines between ourselves and others in a misplaced search for individuality.

If I've learned nothing else these last several months, it's that the celiac or gluten free community is nothing like this. We don't share symptoms or stories to compete; we do it to connect and learn. And that's what I love about it. Today, which I have deemed as FDA Friday, has exemplified this behavior perfectly. 

I've heard whispers about new regulation for gluten free foods on the Internet for a while now. When I woke up and checked my emails, these whispers had transformed into screams. "The FDA did it!" People tweeted. "A huge leap for celiacs everywhere!" 

And it was. Now, the FDA has released rules about what can or cannot be labeled gluten free. You can read the details at the FDA's official website here, but the baseline is this: foods labeled as "gluten free" or variations of this name need less than or equal to 20 ppm (parts per million) of gluten. 

As amazing and wonderful and progressive as this development is, the celiac community's reaction to the ruling made it even better. It didn't matter if you've been diagnosed for two days or two years; if a doctor confirmed it or you diagnosed yourself; or even if you indeed have celiacs or just eat gluten free. We all celebrated together, blew up social media sites with our excitement, and showed the world that dietary needs like ours do, indeed, matter. 

Good job GF community. Today, you and the FDA did good. 

What do you think of the new regulations? What about the GF community? Comment below!