GFCO on gluten-free oats, consumer choice, and third-party certification

On January 21, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration announced it was taking steps to increase transparency surrounding food labels and gluten through a Request for Information (RFI). In this interview, Laura Allred, PhD, regulatory manager at the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO), discusses ongoing concerns around gluten-free oat safety, outlining why GFCO supports keeping oats as an option for most people with celiac disease.

Allred also explains why third-party certification will remain critical regardless of potential regulatory changes, highlighting limited federal enforcement resources, specialized gluten expertise, and the role of certification in ensuring consistent compliance.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: There's been significant discussion regarding the safety of the gluten-free oat supply chain due to cross contamination. How do you think the FDA should address the specific risks associated with oats within the new regulatory framework?

Laura Allred: Oats have certainly been a topic for a long time in the gluten-free community. And as I'm sure you know, there are countries where oats are not allowed in gluten-free products, Australia, New Zealand being the big ones. But the general consensus is that very few people are actually reactive to oats. Most people with celiac disease can safely consume oats. And our point of view is we're always trying to increase the options for people with celiac disease. There aren't a lot of whole grain products out there that they can feel good about, and oats do have so many health benefits. We try to keep those something that's available. And we certainly see that there are manufacturers who are able to through various means, through growing practices, through super fancy sorting and, optical sorting methods, we've seen that there are people out there who can make gluten free oats. So we know it's possible. And obviously it's going to be up to FDA to decide what they're going to do with the data they get. But for us, we'd hate to see that choice taken away from consumers.

McEvoy: If the FDA eventually does adopt stricter rules that mirror GFCO standards, does that change the value of third-party certification? Or how do you see the role of GFCO evolving if federal standards does become more rigorous?

Allred: Yeah, there's always going to be a value to third party certification. No matter what FDA has as a regulation, they just don't have the staffing to be able to get out there and enforce it. When they go into a plant, they're looking at everything that plants doing. They're not focused on gluten. And there are a lot of little specialty things about gluten that we know from having done this for 50 years that maybe aren't FDA’s focus. So with the limited resources they have, they certainly can't police every product out there making a gluten-free claim, whereas we do police everybody making a certification claim. So we can feel pretty good ensuring that for people. We're always going to ensure that any products we certify meet the FDA regulatory requirements as well as any requirements we do certify internationally, we make sure they meet all the regulatory requirements where they're sold. But any additional requirements this, barley, rye, labeling, whatever they decide to do with oats, as long as they're in consumer best interest, we're going to support them.