Gluten-Free Basics

Definition of Gluten-Free in context of GF Diner.

For the purpose of clarity and mutual understanding between you and me, we need to establish a clear definition about Gluten-Free. That way we are making sure to be talking about the same thing .

As you are probably well aware of, there are many existing approaches and definitions in all kind of ways to define gluten free.

In many places you will hear about numbers of parts per million, 200, 20, 50 etc. etc.
With “gf” oats or without, with “gf” wheat-starch or without. In addition, it seems that there are many additional variations, depending which region in the world you live in. Your own definition may also be influenced by the association or government rules you follow.

If that is not enough to confuse you, you might also come across several different schools of thought, what constitute a good, – or perceived to be better interpretations of gluten free.

Some of these will include, No Grain or Grass diets, which exclude all grains and grasses from the diet, including so called pseudo grains, such as amaranth, quinoa, teff and so on.

There will possibly be many requirements and needs to avoid certain type of foods for specific individuals.

We will address some of these throughout the GF Diner site, but for mutual understanding and matching terminology, let’s not worry about any of these other ones right here.

GF Diner Gluten Free Definition

• As a gluten free expert,  having worked as a pioneer for pretty much everything Gluten-Free, I am sticking to the original definition of Gluten Free. 
  Meaning No Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats, Spelt, Triticale, or Kamut,  with perhaps the exception of certified gluten free Oats.
  – Although the discussion of the safety of gf Oats seems to continue and I myself do not tolerate them well.

I find this original terminology offers the clearest and most widely accepted definition.
All content, recipes, formulations, product reviews, recommendations and products on this site adhere to this definition. So, in short when I use the term gluten-free I am referring to the following:

Gluten-Free Ingredients 

All raw ingredients that do NOT contain any:

• Wheat,
• Barley,
• Rye,
• Regular Oats,
• Spelt ( Dinkel) ,
• Kamut,
• Triticale,
• or any derivatives thereof.

 Gluten-Free Facility

A facility that deals with the manufacturing, processing, storage or distribution of Gluten Free Ingredients in a

• dedicated gluten free facility and/or
• dedicated gluten free lines of productions or the
• minimum requirement of a third party verified allergen protocol.