A silly thing is happening with the relaunch of the Nima Sensor

A silly thing is happening with the relaunch of the Nima Sensor. The fact that Gluten Free Watchdog sends samples to the lab Bia Diagnostics for testing using the scientifically validated R5 ELISA is seemingly being used as a talking point to help confirm the validity of the sensor.

From the Nima Now website:

“That performance was validated by BIA Diagnostics, a globally recognized allergen-testing laboratory whose work is trusted by the celiac community and organizations such as Gluten Free Watchdog.”

“For the celiac community, their role carries particular weight. Since 2011, BIA has served as the primary testing laboratory for Gluten Free Watchdog, helping bring transparency and accountability to gluten testing when accuracy truly matters.”

From the Nima Now PR firm via outreach email:

“These results were validated by BIA Technologies, the same independent/ISO-accredited lab Gluten Free Watchdog uses for its testing.”

From a Nima Now affiliate:

“Notably, BIA Diagnostics is the same laboratory used by Gluten Free Watchdog…”

Note: Just to be clear, while the above statements from the Nima Team are technically true–Bia Diagnostics is the lab used by Gluten Free Watchdog—they should not be interpreted to mean an endorsement of Nima by Gluten Free Watchdog.

Yes, Nima Now worked with Bia Diagnostics. Bia evaluated whether the Nima could detect gluten in test portions (0.1 to 0.3 grams) from four products—corn muffins, meatballs, tortillas, and pie crust. These foods were made by Bia and mixed with known amounts of wheat, barley, or rye gluten before baking for a target gluten level of 10 parts per million.

Under laboratory conditions, the Nima Sensor was able to detect gluten in these homogenized samples (i.e., gluten was evenly distributed within the sample) at the 10-ppm level 98.7% of the time. This is a good thing—it means that Nima’s proprietary antibodies worked as intended for these four samples. If the sensor had not worked under these ideal laboratory conditions, then the Nima team would have a really, really big problem.   

However, whether the Nima works under laboratory conditions isn’t really the issue. Nima users typically are not:

• testing incurred samples
• homogenizing samples before testing–meaning they are not taking a larger quantity of the food they intend to test and mixing it well to distribute any gluten present in the sample
• taking a weighed amount from this homogenized larger sample and adding the smaller amount into the Nima capsule

Instead, users are eyeballing a pea sized amount from a non-homogenized sample and placing this into the Nima capsule for testing. The pea sized amount may or may not fall into the target weight range for testing (the target weight range provided to me by the original Nima team was 0.13 to 0.17 grams). And the pea sized amount likely isn’t from a larger homogenized sample.

So, what happens when the sample weight inserted into a capsule is too high—false positives may occur. What happens when the sample hasn’t been homogenized prior to testing—false negatives may occur. The goal is to avoid false positives and false negatives.

What should consumers do: This is likely cost prohibitive but if you use a Nima Sensor or any other lateral flow test and you are testing products at home, ideally you would be a citizen scientist. If this works for you, get yourself a good scale—a scale used to weigh small amounts. Get out a blender, coffee grinder, or food processor. Place a portion of whatever you want to test–a slice of bread, a muffin, a tortilla–into the blender. Grind up the product to hopefully evenly distribute any gluten present. Add your weighed amount into the Nima capsule and test. Run at least two tests to make sure the results are the same. If they aren’t, grind up your larger sample a bit more and run a third test.

Also, please keep in mind what the Nima Now website states about products that can’t be tested:

“Which foods cannot be tested reliably with NIMA? 

Some foods and ingredients cannot be tested accurately because of their texture, composition, or how gluten proteins behave during processing. These include: 

● Fermented or hydrolyzed foods and alcoholic beverages, such as soy sauce, beer, or vinegar 

● Pure liquids, such as soups, beverages, or thin sauces 

● Oily or high-fat foods, such as nut butters, oils, or melted cheese 

● Very dry, powdery, or crumbly foods that don’t mix evenly in the capsule 

● Non-food items, including gums, supplements, or vitamins 

● Acidic foods CAN be tested, but be sure to put no more than a pea-sized amount and it is a good practice to dilute the sample with an equal portion of 2 – 3 droplets of water. 

Your NIMA result reflects only the sample you test, not the entire meal. Gluten may be unevenly distributed in mixed dishes, so testing small samples from different parts of a meal can help identify hidden gluten.”