Proliant Dairy Ingredients is pleased to announce that VersiLac®, its economical dairy solid, meets the final rule of the Food and Drug Administration’s definition for gluten free. The compliance date for this final rule is Aug. 5, 2014 and includes foods that inherently contain no gluten. Any unavoidable presence of gluten in the food must be below 20 parts per million (ppm).   

“According to the results of the ELISA R5- Mendez Method, VersiLac contains less than 5 ppm gluten, which is well below the required less than 20 ppm,” stated Mark Kuennen, Proliant’s director of quality assurance. 

The increasing number of people who experience gluten sensitivities or celiac disease is growing dramatically and the only recognized treatment remains a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. Linda Myhr, Proliant Dairy’s director of sales, stated “Proliant Dairy is pleased to provide a gluten-free, economical, dairy ingredient that food manufacturers need in order to develop new and innovative gluten-free products.” 

VersiLac is a highly versatile and innovative dairy ingredient, and is the result of a unique combination of raw materials and a proprietary production process. Containing over 86 percent lactose, VersiLac provides food formulators a high-quality, low cost, dairy-based alternative to many higher priced dairy ingredients, including lactose, whey powder and nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder in a variety of food systems, all while maintaining a consistent dairy-based, gluten-free label. In addition to dairy ingredients, VersiLac has been proven to replace or reduce the amount of salt, sugar, chocolate and a variety of other nondairy ingredients.