The Gluten Free 'Dish'

07/11/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/ckMMgQTw33s7eX6f/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Open letter to Trader Joe’s about their “gluten-free” rolled oats on behalf of the Gluten Free Watchdog community

Dear Trader Joe’s,

In September of 2024, Gluten Free Watchdog commissioned testing on 6 bags of Trader Joe’s gluten-free rolled oats. Results ranged from < 5 parts per million to 120 parts per million of gluten. These results were shared with you but you have chosen to not respond.

We also tested a bag of Trader Joe’s gluten-free rolled oats and Trader Joe’s organic gluten-free rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds that were part of a consumer illness report. The gluten-free rolled oats tested from 66 parts per million to > 80 parts per million of gluten. The organic gluten-free rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds tested from 42 parts per million to > 80 parts per million of gluten.

Gluten Free Watchdog also commissioned testing on Trader Joe’s gluten-free rolled oats in 2022. Results ranged from < 5 parts per million to > 80 parts per million of gluten. Your reply stated that you had no reason to believe your product was mislabeled. As “proof” you provided lot-specific test results for the batch tested by Gluten Free Watchdog. This “proof” consisted of your third-party lab testing one single extraction from the entire lot of oats.

You state on your bags of gluten-free rolled oats that the oats are “pure, gluten-free oats—grown in dedicated oat fields and packaged in a gluten-free facility.” If this is what you believe to be an accurate characterization of the oats in this product, you may want to request more information from your suppliers. The oats you are receiving contain gluten at levels not allowed in foods labeled gluten-free. Continuing to ignore the test results provided to you by Gluten Free Watchdog—testing done by an ISO accredited lab that specializes in testing food for gluten–is putting your customers with celiac disease at risk.

Maybe this is something you should care about.

Tricia Thompson, MS, RD

Founder, Gluten Free Watchdog, LLC

23/07/2024

I had no idea these complex issues that relate to Gluten-Free food testing!

Test result for Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Almost Everything Bagels from Moms Across America Possibly False Positive.

Gluten Free Watchdog tested Trader Joe’s Almost Everything Bagels due to consumer concerns over the results of testing commissioned by the group Moms Across America.

This is a complex and long test report summary. Please bear with us as we try to explain the discrepancy between the Moms Across America test results and Gluten Free Watchdog test results. This information is also posted on Gluten Free Watchdog under the news tab.

Bottom line: The test result from Moms Across America for Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Almost Everything Bagels may be a false positive, especially if the lab did not use extra protein to prevent non-specific binding (please see explanation below). As a reminder, the lab used by MAA tested the bagels with the G12 ELISA from Romer Labs. The bagels reportedly tested at 269.8 parts per million of gluten. Final testing done through Gluten Free Watchdog using the R5 ELISA and the G12 ELISA was below the lower limit of quantification (< 5 parts per million of gluten or < 4 parts per million of gluten depending on the assay used).

Testing done at Bia Diagnostics for Gluten Free Watchdog:

Three bags of bagels with three different best by dates were tested. The bagels were tested using two different assays–the R5 ELISA and the G12 ELISA. Bagels were tested with and without a milk additive (see explanation below).

All eight food portions tested with the R5 ELISA tested < 5 parts per million of gluten (below the limit of quantification).

The food portions tested with the G12 ELISA without a milk additive tested with quantifiable gluten (>/= 4 ppm gluten). The food portions tested with a milk additive tested < 4 parts per million of gluten (below the limit of quantification).

Why the discrepancy in the results?

This section is important to read and understand.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) like the R5 and G12 are based on what is called an antigen-antibody reaction. If gluten is present in the food samples that are being tested, it will bind to the antibodies in the R5 and G12. Sometimes what is called non-specific binding occurs—meaning something other than gluten binds to the antibodies. This may cause false positive results. To help prevent non-specific binding, extra protein in the form of milk protein or fish gelatin may be included in the testing process.

When the R5 ELISA was used to test the bagels for gluten, the results were the same regardless of the use of a milk additive. However, when the G12 ELISA was used, the use of a milk additive appears to have prevented non-specific binding. This means that the milk additive appears to have prevented false positive results.

Gluten Free Watchdog has been in touch with Romer Labs (manufacturer of the G12 ELISA) and R-Biopharm (manufacturer of the R5 ELISA). They both offered suggestions on possible ingredients in the bagels that could be causing the non-specific binding. We are in the process of having these ingredients tested at Bia Diagnostics. To date, results suggest that brown rice flour and sorghum flour may cause non-specific binding when the G12 ELISA without a milk additive is used to test these ingredients for gluten.

Next steps:

Gluten Free Watchdog will not be testing every product tested by Moms Across America and found to contain quantifiable gluten. We recommend that the lab used by MAA retest products from their retained samples, using extra protein to prevent non-specific binding.

Something for all of us to keep in mind:

Testing food for gluten is complicated. It is often not straight forward. Results must be scrutinized. When test results don’t make sense (and everyone involved in testing food for gluten has been there), there is likely a reason. The key is to try to figure it out—why are there discrepancies in test results? Sometimes we never figure it out but sometimes we do. And this is how we learn.

12/05/2024

Please share!

For those new to the Lead Safe Mama website: Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her four sons were acutely Lead-po...

18/09/2023

Do you have a bread machine you like?

28/07/2023

Good advice here if you share a kitchen with others who are not gluten-free.

09/03/2023

Emergency alert from Gluten Free Watchdog, with profound thanks to Monica and the preliminary testing she did with her Nima Sensor. Based on testing done at Bia Diagnostics using the sandwich R5 ELISA, the Millet, Cassava and Tapioca Blend from Batter Than Good, and all products made using this base mix should not be eaten by people with celiac disease. This product is sold primarily in Oklahoma but also appears to have been available via mail order.

More information will be released soon but based on testing, this product is NOT gluten-free. The bag of flour mix tested at levels similar to wheat flour. Please freeze all remaining product for possible future investigation. The owner of the company has been notified. FDA has been notified. Thank you.

20/02/2023

05/01/2023

FYI

Special 2023 statement on the use of oats in the gluten-free diet.

In the latter half of 2022, four labeled gluten-free oat products from three manufacturers commissioned for testing by Gluten Free Watchdog had gluten test results above 20 parts per million. Three of the four products were certified gluten-free at the time of testing. These results are unprecedented for GFWD.

At Gluten Free Watchdog, we are stopping short of recommending against the use of oats. However, you may want to familiarize yourself with the suppliers of purity protocol oats and confirm with manufacturers that their oats are sourced from one of the listed suppliers posted at https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-produced-under-a-gluten-free-purity-protocol-listing-of-suppliers-and-manufacturers/. You also may want to familiarize yourself with the protocols followed by Quaker https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-revisited-quaker-gluten-free-oats/.

We will continue to test labeled gluten-free foods containing oats and will update the community as necessary.

Also available at https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/gluten-free-watchdog-special-2023-statement-on-the-use-of-oats-in-the-gluten-free-diet/

24/12/2022

Santa stopped by tonight to see his friend, Beau, because he’s always a good boy! Merry Christmas to you!
❤️ Debbie

01/11/2022

Nice to see Bakery On Main added to the GF purity oats list.

UPDATED OCTOBER 21, 2022: All suppliers of single ingredient purity protocol oats and manufacturers/brands using purity protocol oats in their single ingredient oat products in this listing have updated their information. Please keep in mind that there is no standardized definition for purity protoc...

25/10/2022

If you eat oats, this article is for you.

UPDATED OCTOBER 21, 2022: All suppliers of single ingredient purity protocol oats and manufacturers/brands using purity protocol oats in their single ingredient oat products in this listing have updated their information. Please keep in mind that there is no standardized definition for purity protoc...

07/10/2022

Starts Tonight!

MIGRATION ALERT! Half a **billion** birds are projected to be in the air tonight as they head southward on migration. With coming up on Saturday, it's shaping up to be great birdwatching! It's also a great time to turn out nonessential lighting and check your windows for bird safety to help them on their way. Learn more: https://birdcast.info/science-to-action/lights-out/