No. Currently, there is no FDA regulation that defines the term "gluten-free."  However, the FDA has been mandated through the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) to issue a rule defining the use of the term “gluten-free” on food labels.  The Secretary of Health and Human Services will make a final ruling on the term “gluten-free” sometime in 2009.

The FDA proposes to define the term "gluten-free" to mean that a food does not contain any of the following:

•  An ingredient that is a prohibited grain
• An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has not been processed to remove gluten
• An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has been processed to remove gluten, if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten
• 20 ppm or more gluten

The FDA considers the following to be prohibited grains: 

• Wheat, meaning any species belonging to the genus Triticum
• Rye, meaning any species belonging to the genus Secale
• Barley, meaning any species belonging to the genus Hordeum
• Crossbred hybrids of wheat, rye or barley (e.g., triticale, which is a cross between wheat and rye)

At the present time, analytic technology can reliably and consistently detect gluten in wheat, rye, and barley at levels of 20 ppm and above.

The breading on Applegate Farms Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets is made with a mixture of corn and rice flours, instead of the wheat flour used on our traditional chicken nuggets and strips, which contains gluten.

The gluten-free breading used on our chicken nuggets will be tested for gluten before entering our plant and will be accompanied by a Certificate of Analysis. The finished product will be tested for gluten again before leaving our plant, and will be held until an analysis determines that the product meets our gluten level specifications.

They taste great! Taste is one of the tenets that guide the creation of every Applegate Farms product. We worked diligently on our chicken nugget recipe until we were confident that we could substitute our traditional wheat breading with a gluten-free version that did not impact the level of taste and quality associated with our brand.

Our meat products do not contain any fillers.  Therefore, all Applegate Farms products are gluten-free, with the exception of those made with traditional breading and/or pastry, such as our chicken nuggets, strips and patties, and our pot pie.