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Gluten Contamination of Food

05 Apr 2021

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 […]

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29 Dec 2020

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 […]

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09 Dec 2020

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 […]

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21 Nov 2020

Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Testing Food for Gluten

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 […]

By Gluten Contamination of Food, Gluten-Free Diet, Gluten-Free Labeling, Testing for Gluten Contamination, Video Library Q&A 10 Comments Read more...
26 Oct 2020

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 […]

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26 May 2020

FDA’s Temporary Policy Regarding Certain Food Labeling Requirements: Implications for Those with Celiac Disease

Many of you have reached out about the FDA’s guidance document regarding labeling entitled “Temporary Policy Regarding Certain Food Labeling Requirements During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Minor Formulation Changes and Vending Machines.” The entire document is available at https://www.fda.gov/media/138315/download. If you haven’t yet read this guidance, it states in a nutshell that during this period of food shortages and supply disruptions, FDA is allowing manufacturers to make certain ingredient substitutions without changing the ingredients list.

Allowed substitutions include those […]

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09 Oct 2019

What Does 10 mg of Gluten Look Like?

10 milligrams of gluten per day is generally considered by experts to be a safe amount for individuals with celiac disease. But what does this look like in terms of bread crumbs?

Regular white wheat bread has been reported to contain 12,400 milligrams of gluten per 100 grams (or 124,000 parts per million of gluten). Assuming this is accurate, a one-ounce slice of regular bread would contain 3,515 milligrams of gluten.

Based on this assumption and using a nonscientific scale: […]

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08 Oct 2019

Gluten Free Watchdog comment on the recent gluten cross contact study “Preparation of Gluten-Free Foods Alongside Gluten-Containing Food May Not Always Be as Risky for Celiac Patients as Diet Guides Suggest”

The study, “Preparation of Gluten-Free Foods Alongside
Gluten-Containing Food May Not Always Be as Risky for Celiac Patients as Diet
Guides Suggest” was recently published online by the journal Gastroenterology.  It is available in full at https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(19)41340-1/pdf.

Personal note:
I have been out of the country and a little late to the party in terms of
commenting on this study. Thank you to everyone who reached out over the past
week for your patience. A comment from Adrian Rogers, Senior Research Scientist
at Romer Labs is […]

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03 Sep 2019

When a regulatory agency (USDA) actually enforces the gluten-free labeling rule and recalls a product containing wheat-based soy sauce

On August 30, 2019, the United States Department of
Agriculture announced the recall of Heatherfield
Foods Inc. pork sausage products due to misbranding. The sausage is labeled
gluten-free yet contains wheat. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2019/recall-088-2019-release?permalink=35A47FAFA869093A250D7843C3A55B6D5ADD2BFB5919576B6453B59930E6CE26

Why is this
recall particularly significant?

It took
place because of a consumer complaint received by USDA.Based on
consumer photographs sent to Gluten Free Watchdog, the source of wheat in the
sausage is soy sauce.USDA
doesn’t have an agency defined gluten-free labeling rule. Instead
they require manufacturers under their labeling jurisdiction to adhere to the gluten-free
labeling rule […]

By FDA Action Alerts, Gluten Contamination of Food, Gluten-Free Labeling, Uncategorized 11 Comments Read more...
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