Chef Myron’s sauces containing wheat-based soy sauce FINALLY recalled
Recalls for eight Chef Myron’s sauces posted to the FDA’s enforcement report page the week of December 16th. The reason given for all recalls: “Product utilized a gluten-free claim but has as an ingredient a fermented soy sauce that is produced from wheat which was not processed to remove the gluten prior to fermentation.”
It is huge that these recalls are happening. Finally, the FDA appears willing to recall foods labeled gluten-free containing wheat-based soy sauce as an ingredient. This is a first in recent memory for an FDA-regulated food. These recalls also serve as precedent and a deterrent to other manufacturers using wheat based soy sauce in labeled gluten-free foods.
These recalls are a long time coming. Gluten Free Watchdog first reported Chef Myron’s to the FDA in 2014. We last filed a complaint on August 18, 2020. Unfortunately, these sauces are sold to various food service outlets, including schools, hospitals, military, and restaurants.
Gluten Free Watchdog also has been in contact with Chef Myron’s since 2014 advising them about their misbranded products. Most recently, in May 2020, the manufacturer advised Gluten Free Watchdog that the gluten-free statement appearing on product packaging “is from our quality team who works closely with the proper authorities to ensure everything is correct and testing is done.”
As of January 4, 2021, there is no mention of the recalls on Chef Myron’s website. Products are still represented as containing wheat with the following statement, “The wheat has been processed (converted to amino acids during the fermentation process) to allow this food to meet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for a “gluten-free” food.”
To view the recalls, see https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/index.cfm. Select year 2020 and search the week of December 16th under the category food.
Comments (3)
This is very scary. If this product makes a Celiac sick, how is that not tantamount to a physical assault? Whether the FDA is involved or not, surely there is a legal / class action route to dealing with these a-holes who think the whole gluten thing is a fad and mis-advertise their products?
About damn time.
It’s hard to overstate the impact of this recall.
The FDA is finally doing its job enforcing its own gluten-free labeling regs and it picked a great example in Chef Myron’s. Lest anyone think this is merely a single brand they’ve never heard of before or seen on the shelves, Chef Myron’s is not only a single brand passing off a wheat containing product as “gluten-free,” it’s a brand that sells to many other brands to use that mislabeled product IN OTHER PRODUCTS, and they have done so for years.
Chef Myron’s has been assuring their customers — brands you may recognize on store shelves — that their sauces are indeed gluten free when they are not, so that they will use them in other products also (mis)labeled gluten-free.
The ripple effect is just beginning and a thankfully, a precedent is now set. Thank you, Tricia, for your tireless efforts, as always!
~jules (gfJules.com)