Gluten-Free Oats

Quaker Gluten-Free Oats

Tricia Thompson2015-11-20T14:48:27+00:00Quaker is now manufacturing "gluten-free" oat products using a "proprietary method for removing stray grains." Quaker joins General Mills and Grain Millers (house brand Country Choice) in the marketing of oats not grown under a purity protocol to the gluten-free community. This morning Gluten Free Watchdog sent an email to Quaker asking them to provide us with information about their proprietary grain removal process and testing protocols. UPDATE: Quaker responded to my email confirming that they are using optical and mechanical...

Lingering Questions Remain about Gluten-Free Cheerios Recall and Safety

Tricia Thompson2015-10-15T16:51:08+00:00Background: On October 5th General Mills announced a recall of certain lots of regular Yellow Box and Honey Nut Cheerios. According to the press release the lots impacted were produced at the facility in Lodi, California during a four-day period for Yellow Box and thirteen-day period for Honey Nut. On October 7th, Gluten Free Watchdog sent an open letter to the General Mills' Cheerios Team regarding the recall. On October 9th General Mills responded. To view the original letter and...

Open letter to General Mills’ Gluten-Free Cheerios Team on Behalf of the Gluten Free Watchdog Community

Tricia Thompson2015-10-09T19:43:22+00:00Dear General Mills' Cheerios Team, Your recent recall of 13 lots of Honey Nut and 4 lots of Yellow Box Cheerios and subsequent explanation of how these products made it to market has raised many questions. One of the biggest concerns is the apparent discrepancy between what you told the community about your testing protocols and what you were actually doing. It is important that you provide a thorough and honest explanation. What you were actually doing You stated to me in an...

Gluten-Related Disorder? Stop Eating Gluten-Free Cheerios

Tricia Thompson2015-10-06T02:01:28+00:00To the Gluten Free Watchdog Community: This afternoon General Mills announced a recall of certain lots of regular Yellow Box and Honey Nut Cheerios. According to the press release the lots impacted were produced at the facility in Lodi, California during a four-day period for Yellow Box and thirteen-day period for Honey Nut. If you have boxes of Cheerios in your pantry please check the Better if Used By Date for the following: Honey Nut Cheerios Honey Nut Cheerios Honey Nut Cheerios  Yellow Box Cheerios 12JUL2016LD 13JUL2016LD 14JUL2016LD 15JUL2016LD 16JUL2016LD 17JUL2016LD 18JUL2016LD 20JUL2016LD 21JUL2016LD 22JUL2016LD 23JUL2016LD 24JUL2016LD 25JUL2016LD 14JUL2016LD 15JUL2016LD 16JUL2016LD 17JUL2016LD According...

Sick after eating gluten-free Cheerios?

Tricia Thompson2015-09-16T13:24:42+00:00Update September 16, 2015  On Monday and Tuesday of this week Gluten Free Watchdog sent a compilation of detailed illness reports related to Cheerios consumption to the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator in Massachusetts, the Director of Food Labeling and Standards at FDA, and the Deputy Commissioner for Foods at FDA. FDA is now aware of the situation. If you believe you became ill after eating Cheerios, FDA is asking that you contact FDA's MEDWATCH, the Adverse Event Reporting System. You can...

Gluten-Free Cheerios: Updated Position Statement

Tricia Thompson2015-09-12T20:42:59+00:00Oats: Gluten Free Watchdog supports the use of gluten-free oats by the celiac disease community that are produced under a purity protocol. At this time we do not in general support the use of regular commodity oats that are cleaned at the “end” of production via mechanical and/or optical sorting. We are not necessarily opposed to the use of such oats in the future if their gluten-free status can be definitively demonstrated via a rigorous testing protocol. Cheerios: The oats used...

Gluten-Free Cheerios: Take Three

Tricia Thompson2015-08-30T16:57:13+00:00This is the latest in a series of news posts on gluten-free oats. For complete information, please refer to the articles posted HERE. Gluten Free Watchdog test results: We have completed testing on three individual boxes of original (yellow box) Cheerios labeled gluten-free. Test results and a full report are publicly available at www.glutenfreewatchdog.org. On the homepage, please scroll down to “Sample Product Reports” on the left hand side of the page. Putting gluten test results into context In 2014, Gluten Free Watchdog...

Gluten-Free Cheerios: Take Two

Tricia Thompson2015-10-23T16:20:41+00:00Update August 14, 2015 General Mills and I spoke via phone on August 13th. Here are some of the positives… They are looking to source some oats from suppliers who follow a purity protocol. Note: I offered to help facilitate this process by reaching out to my contacts that supply pure oats to manufacturers. General Mills accepted this offer. Three suppliers were contacted this morning. Update: As of 8/27/15 email correspondence with General Mills on whether they were truly interested in purchasing pure oats...

Gluten-free oat production: Purity protocol versus mechanical or optical sorting: Does it matter to you?

Tricia Thompson2015-06-23T17:50:51+00:00We are in a new era of gluten-free oat production. Gone are the days when oats and oat products labeled gluten-free meant the grain was produced under a purity protocol. Single- and multi-ingredient oat products labeled gluten-free may now include “regular” oats that have undergone mechanical and/or optical sorting to remove wheat, barley, and rye grain (this is now true in both the US and Canada). Many in the gluten-free community are in the process of working through this brave...

More thoughts on gluten-free Cheerios

Tricia Thompson2015-06-26T14:05:58+00:00A growing number of manufacturers and suppliers of “gluten-free” oats are using optical and/or mechanical sorting to clean oats at the back end of production.  What these manufacturers such as General Mills should keep in mind is that the celiac disease community has been advised for over 10 years to eat only those oats grown under a purity protocol. Consumers are now being asked by some manufacturers to put aside this advice. However, it is not enough for manufacturers to...