What Is Gluten-Free Certification (GFC)?
Working with food and its production is one of the most delicate and difficult areas or industries to dedicate your company to. Starting with the fact that any food you decide to deal with and supply have to meet standards and requirements in order to go out in the market. When it comes to bread, flour, cereals, and more, there is usually one thing most companies pay attention to—lately—, if it is gluten-free.
There are hundreds of people with celiac disease, which is making products and aliments with this characteristic to be more consumed. However, making sure that the products you provide in your company meet it will take more than just saying or thinking, “I will eliminate the gluten from the formula”. If you have been working in the food industry for a while or have basic knowledge about the food you want to supply, you should know by now that making something without gluten can change a lot of things.
Starting with the consistency of the bread—for example—or any other product and food. But it is crucial to pay attention to obtaining this certification, especially if you want to dedicate your company as one of the few in the market and industry that provides gluten-free products.
or companies that supply them, which leads to having to choose among what is available and not what is the best. Therefore, we can guarantee you two things:
- It is a good idea to go for a certification in this aspect.
- It will be worth it to invest in it.
Gluten-Free Certification is what gives companies a seal of approval when it comes to making and supplying products and aliments that meet certain standards. Since it is a very delicate topic, you cannot expect to obtain the certification until you meet every single detail, even if it is just a gram more than the previous formula or the right one.
This certification will guarantee consumers that your company and products will not represent a risk to their health whenever they have any gluten-related disorder. Keep in mind that most people buy their aliments and food by only going to the section they can consume.
In the case of supermarkets and stores, there are several parts where you can find a “gluten-free” cartel, and consumers will go there and take the products without reading the ingredients or information. This gives you a new responsibility, which is allowing them to rest assured they can take your products and worry about nothing while consuming them.
Now, how can you obtain a certification that protects consumers and allow you to make and supply these products? By finding an organization or validated company that can provide you with the certification once you meet all the requirements set in a standard and normative.
Our company ISO Pros provides certification and helps businesses in this industry to meet the desired requirements in order to have a safe production for celiac people or with gluten-related diseases.
What does it consist of?
Usually, Gluten-Free Certification is a program that verifies the integrity and purity of the gluten products. In simpler words, the company or organization that provides the certification goes to your business and makes sure that your products follow the standards stipulated in the normative and requirements. Or that you made sure to follow through an extensive program that consists of their implementation.
For example, our company will go to your business, assess all the gluten-free products—or you are planning to make them that way—and determine if they meet the criteria. If they don’t, we will make sure to leave tips and guidelines for your company to follow them and meet the missing requirements. Fortunately, the Gluten-Free Certification and its requirements in the United States consist mostly in one only: less than 20 ppm of gluten (ppm: parts per million).
This amount of gluten is almost undetectable and won’t affect any celiac person or with related diseases to gluten to be affected by the food or product, he or she is consuming. This program also implements and includes assessing all the ingredients of the product in order to guarantee a clean process.
Some products and ingredients usually have a minimum amount of gluten included, which is why companies like yours need to be careful about what they use or not. Yes, so far, we know it is quite difficult despite having to meet—mostly—only one requirement which is the 20 ppm of gluten.
Once you obtain the certification, do you have to do it again later on?
Gluten-Free Certification usually lasts a year at most. The food industry is something to be careful about and regulations are carried out quite often. Also, standards and requirements are usually changed or added to complement the current ones.
Once you obtain one certification in this aspect, you will have to go through the process yearly and make sure your business follows the requirements established in the program and normative. We are sure—whatsoever—that if you keep loyal to the standards and the ingredients you have used so far, you won’t have problems obtaining the next certification when it is time again.
However, if you are trying to make new products or something similar, it is important to contact the organization or validated the company for it. You might have a seal of approval in this area, but any company that decides to develop or supply a new gluten-free product needs to go through the process again. Just to make sure that this product also meets the standards and requirements and nothing is missing or, on the contrary, added when it shouldn’t be there.
As you can see, the certification is quite simple when you think about what it is. Therefore, you don’t have to struggle or think way too much about it. Instead, feel encouraged to go for it and move forward with your company.
