Gluten Contamination of Food

Recall Update: New information on the recall of Cargill soy flour due to gluten cross contact

Gluten Free Watchdog has been in contact with Cargill about the recall of millions of pounds of Cargill soy flour. In brief, Cargill provided the following information: Out of an abundance of caution, Cargill issued a voluntary recall for Prolia® soy flour and Prosante® textured soy flour products manufactured between October 5, 2022, and March 29, 2023, after receiving limited test results with gluten above 20 ppm.  The gluten found in the testing was between 20 ppm and 50 ppm. Information available to...

Product Recall: Millions of pounds of Cargill soy flour have been recalled because of gluten

5/9/23 This post has been updated to include a statement from FDA Millions of pounds of Cargill soy flour have been recalled because “products with a gluten free claim may contain gluten levels above 20 ppm.” Recalled products include Prosante® Textured Soy Flour & Prolia® Soy Flour. These ingredients were distributed in the United States, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and United Kingdom. According to the manufacturer's website, "Cargill is a soy flour supplier to the food industry."  This recall was...

Gluten Free Watchdog no longer recommends GF Harvest as a source of purity protocol oats

Update January, 4, 2023: Gluten Free Watchdog does not recommend GF Harvest as a source of gluten-free oats. Four bags of oat flour (Best by date 06/23, Lot # 0452.001.9.007) tested between 6 and 32 parts per million of gluten. Unfortunately, the manufacturer never responded to an email from Gluten Free Watchdog alerting them to the results. Until further notice, Gluten Free Watchdog does not recommend GF Harvest as a source of purity protocol oats. Gluten Free Watchdog recently analyzed five...

Lentils and Gluten Cross Contact

The article Lentils and Gluten Cross Contact by Tricia Thompson, Trisha Lyons, and Amy Keller was published on April 29, 2022 in Frontiers in Nutrition. There is some good news in this brief research report. If you are interested in watching a brief overview of our findings, please see our short powerpoint video with audio. https://youtu.be/gPOxQWXE3Mc If you would prefer to read a summary of the findings, the abstract is pasted below. Abstract Lentils are naturally gluten-free and are recommended for people...

Oat Beverages & Celiac Disease: Why We Are a Bit Concerned

Bottom line: If you drink oat-based beverages, please choose products you trust made using gluten-free oats. Gluten in liquids adds up very quickly. Background: The part per million level of a product is obviously important BUT it doesn’t tell the whole story. The amount of gluten ingested depends on BOTH the ppm level AND the weight amount of product eaten. Each 1.0 ounce/28.35 gram amount of product ingested at the 20-ppm level provides about 0.57 milligrams of gluten. What does this mean...

Products in the immediate queue for testing at Gluten Free Watchdog (March 2021)

The products in the photo have been requested for testing by subscribers to Gluten Free Watchdog. Results will start posting mid March. Requests are made for any number of reasons, including peace of mind regarding favorite foods. Results are available to subscribers.

Folks with gluten-related disorders: Please don’t eat products from Deland Bakery if they are not labeled gluten-free

Deland Bakery (along with Sami’s Bakery) has used some “creative” labeling over the years. If you are new to a gluten-free diet, please know that folks with a gluten-related disorder should not eat products from either of these bakeries that are NOT labeled gluten-free. Background information: A couple weeks ago, Gluten Free Watchdog contacted Deland Bakery and asked them to please explain why the Contains statement on products in their natural line includes the verbiage "Wheat, Gluten or Yeast"? This statement...

Grading the Canyon Bakehouse Recall

UPDATE: The recall has been amended to include expanded distribution for the Canyon Bakehouse Everything Bagels and now includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. See: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/amended-flowers-foods-issues-voluntary-recall-two-canyon-bakehouse-products-due-possible-presence Bottom line: Canyon Bakehouse handled this recall very well. What happened should serve as a lesson for all manufacturers of gluten-free foods. Testing at risk raw ingredients for gluten before they enter the facility should be de rigueur. A dedicated gluten-free facility doesn’t matter if “dirty” ingredients are allowed inside. My biggest concern at this point is with...

Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Testing Food for Gluten

https://youtu.be/YndPtvzMm_I This video presentation with audio is about 30 minutes long. The focus is on lessons learned from 16 years of testing food for gluten. The positive news is that the vast majority of the hundreds of foods tested through GFWD have tested below 20 parts per million of gluten. There have been a few unwelcome surprises over the years, including the level of cross contact in lentils and the number of products impacted by facial misbranding. We’ve also learned through...

Gluten Cross Contact in a Shared Fryer: Poster Presented at AOAC International Meeting

View full size poster at HERE. Abstract: Celiac disease patients are dissuaded from eating fried foods cooked in shared fryers at restaurants based on presumed gluten exposure versus evidence-based research that gluten cross contact occurs. Twenty orders of fries cooked in shared fryers with wheat were purchased from 10 different restaurants. Fries and oil were free of gluten-containing ingredients. Fries were sent to Bia Diagnostics and tested in 1-gram duplicates using the Ridascreen Gliadin R7001 sandwich R5 ELISA and the Ridascreen...