The Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG), an industry leader in the certification of gluten-free products and food services, announced it is rebranding the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO) mark to support its expanding presence in international markets. To date, over 60,000 products from 51 countries have earned GFCO certification. The GFCO certification program protects consumers with gluten-related disorders by confirming that a product meets strict standards for gluten-free safety. GFCO companies will have until 2022 to completely adopt the new mark on packaging.
After years of careful consideration, along with consultation with international legal experts, GIG determined that a design change was required to meet international trademark regulations. Additionally, the design change will make the mark more easily identifiable to global consumers and will protect the value of its certification internationally. GFCO is the only gluten-free certification that holds companies and products accountable through audits, random product testing and process surveillance. All GFCO certification bodies are accredited to ISO 17065, ensuring they follow internationally established best practices for auditing and product certification.
With the increased demand for label transparency globally, this new mark is meant to add even greater value to brands that are certified by GFCO. The design of the rebranded GFCO mark includes several identifiable features including:
• The words “Certified Gluten Free” leave no question as to what the new mark represents.
• The GFCO mark meets both the USDA requirements as well as international trademark registration requirements.
• The inclusion of the gfco.org website on the mark not only clearly identifies GFCO as the owner of the mark, it also directs consumers to the GFCO website where they can search for certified gluten-free products.
• Bi-lingual French-English and Spanish-English GFCO marks will be available in the coming months.
