Tricia Thompson |

02 Nov

Reminder: Pick Through Your Lentils for Errant Wheat and Barley!

We continue to receive reports of errant gluten-containing grains in bags of dried lentils sold in the US. Health Canada just issued a recall on a brand of lentils for undeclared gluten. As a general reminder, under US GIPSA standards (Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration), lentils are allowed to contain a certain percentage of foreign grain, including wheat, barley, and rye. As a precaution, please make sure to pick through dry lentils carefully and rinse them very thoroughly under […]

By Tricia Thompson Gluten Contamination of Food 3 Comments Read more...

30 Oct

Why mechanically and optically sorted “gluten-free” oats continue to keep me up at night

If you are new to the gluten-free diet and are unfamiliar with the cross contact issues associated with oats and the differences between purity protocol and mechanically/optically sorted oats, please see the following articles before reading this post https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-and-the-gluten-free-diet-qa-part-1/ and https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-and-the-gluten-free-diet-qa-part-2/

Many labeled gluten-free foods contain oats supplied by providers of mechanically and optically sorted oats. Recently a consumer reached out to me regarding the labeling on a gluten-free snack bar containing oats. The label read, “”Contains … wheat** **Trace […]

By Tricia Thompson Gluten-Free Oats 0 Comments Read more...

16 Oct

Updated Testing Protocol from General Mills for Labeled Gluten-Free Cheerios

General Mills uses standard oats that have been mechanically and optically sorted to remove wheat, barley, and rye in their labeled gluten-free Cheerios.

Finished product testing

(As reported to Gluten Free Watchdog and confirmed October 12, 2018)

General Mills is producing gluten-free Cheerios using what they term “validated gluten-free flour.”

General Mills determines gluten-free status of a “lot” of oat flour via a lot mean.

Further, General Mills determines gluten-free status of a “lot” of gluten-free Cheerios via a lot mean.
In both […]

By Tricia Thompson Gluten-Free Oats 5 Comments Read more...

09 Oct

Please do not panic: The research abstract on the Nima Sensor and gluten-free restaurant meals presented at the ACG annual meeting is misleading

Yesterday evening I was just about to close up shop when three messages arrived almost simultaneously asking about a research abstract presented at the American College of Gastroenterology annual meeting entitled “Gluten Contamination of Restaurant Food: Analysis of Crowd-Sourced Data.” According to the abstract, study authors, including physicians from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University “analyzed data from a portable gluten detection device (Nima), collected across the USA during an 18-month period by users (n = 804) who […]

By Tricia Thompson Nima Sensor 7 Comments Read more...

18 Sep

Sometimes that “not quite right” looking gluten-free food turns out to be gluten-free

Sometimes that “not quite right” looking gluten-free food turns out to be gluten-free and sometimes it does not.

Latest incident. We recently tested two pretzel sticks that looked different from the rest of the pretzel sticks in a bag of gluten-free Snyders’s of Hanover pretzels. They were longer, thinner, and darker than the other pretzels (see photo). GFWD asked SH to test the errant pretzels but they declined.

SH will not test any product once packaging has been opened. This is […]

By Tricia Thompson Gluten-Free Labeling, Product Alerts 3 Comments Read more...

17 Sep

When an individual is maligned because his scientific opinion is at odds with the commercial messaging surrounding a food-testing gadget we have a problem

Background: As many of you know, Gluten Free Watchdog has been independently testing, assessing, and writing about the Nima Sensor for gluten for a couple of years. Third party testing data was recently released. As a result, we provided an update to our position statement on the testing gadget* (we are not able to recommend it).

In our post we included the following statement from Adrian Rogers, Senior Research Scientist at Romer Labs about the Nima Sensor and the third […]

By Tricia Thompson Nima Sensor 2 Comments Read more...

10 Sep

A Bit of Good News from the FDA on Gluten-Free Labeling Issues

We’ve received a bit of good news from the FDA but before you get too excited continue reading to the end of the post…

Gluten Free Watchdog periodically sends emails to FDA updating them on possible facial misbranding* related to the gluten-free labeling rule. An email sent on August 14, 2018 stated in part:

“I dealt with two product issues yesterday. A sauce labeled gluten-free yet containing beer with barley and malt listed as sub-ingredients AND a cookie labeled gluten-free containing […]

By Tricia Thompson FDA Action Alerts 5 Comments Read more...

06 Sep

Gluten Free Watchdog’s Updated Position Statement on the Nima Sensor for Gluten

At Gluten Free Watchdog we are not able to recommend the Nima Sensor consumer testing gadget* for gluten. Third party testing data released yesterday by Nima Labs has further solidified our position. This testing data confirmed what we’ve noted in our own testing with this gadget. There is no way to know whether a smiley face test result from the Nima Sensor is a true negative in terms of the gluten-free labeling rule (gluten below 20 ppm) or a […]

By Tricia Thompson Nima Sensor 8 Comments Read more...

21 Aug

Enough with the outlandish claims that folks with gluten-related disorders can eat your wheat or wheat bread without harm: They can’t!

Why we tested wheat

Gluten Free Watchdog recently tested crushed wheat for gluten (yes, you read that correctly). This testing was done due to claims being made by the manufacturer “Our Fathers Foods.”

Excerpts from manufacturer

As of August 11, 2018 the following statements were posted on the website of Our Fathers Foods (see screenshots):

“Crushed wheat #1 allows people with gluten intolerance, celiac disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health ailments to eat wheat again.”

“So far we have had around 150 […]

By Tricia Thompson Product Alerts 1 Comment Read more...

27 Jul

Gluten Free Watchdog calls on Nima Labs, Inc. to release third party testing data to their community and to others interested in using the Nima Sensor

Gluten Free Watchdog calls on Nima Labs, Inc. to release third party testing data to their community and to others interested in using the Nima Sensor.

Nima Labs, Inc. has presented useful third party testing data of their Nima Sensor device at selected conferences, but has requested that conference attendees refrain from more widespread dissemination. We are asking them to release the data privately to their users and to others interested in using the device.

Information on false negatives: Nima Labs, […]

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Author: Tricia Thompson