Dairy-free products appeal to consumers who have milk allergies or lactose intolerance. However, these two types of dairy product intolerance are quite distinctly different.

A quick survey of the food marketplace identifies a range of foods that fill specific market niches such as dairy-free, nut-free, peanut-free, egg-free and even allergen-free.

Gluten-free products abound in the marketplace. While consumers might select gluten-free products for several reasons, the manufacturers of gluten-free products must protect the segment of those consumers who are highly sensitive to the ingestion of gluten.

The number of gluten-free products that have entered the market in recent years is quite large—almost mind-boggling. To some degree, this trend was fostered by FDA’s relatively new rule, Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods (August 2013), which allows manufacturers of foods inherently gluten-free to make such label claims. Thus, we now have gluten-free tomato sauce, a product that was probably always gluten-free.

Gluten-free is a hot product category. It seems everyone in the food industry wants to be involved in this trend, and the gluten-free label claim does attract a segment of the population that is highly sensitive to the ingestion of traces of gluten. Consumers with celiac disease must completely avoid gluten.

Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Nut-free. Peanut-free. Allergen-free. The food marketplace increasingly features such claims on product labels, but what do they mean? Do regulatory agencies police use of such terms?