Great Specialty Products: Seven Tests Show High Gluten
Comments (24) [UPDATE 12/15/2009 4:30 PM: We received feedback from the EZ Gluten manufacturer. We were informed that the EZ Gluten reading of high is not a clear indicator of > 200 ppm. A 'High' reading is simply a relative indicator, and the only clear ppm reading from the test is the < 10 ppm of a low reading. 'High' may indicate higher or lower than 200 ppm. Further, the 3rd party test that was used was not the 'AOAC approved' test; rather it was a modification of the AOAC OMA 991.19 that has been modified to go down to 5 ppm. As a point of transparency, our errors are left in with strikethrough.]
Five (5) different products which had a ‘Gluten Free’ product claim from Great Specialty Products, a physical and online seller of GF products, show high levels of gluten based on seven (7) different gluten tests. Six were over the counter test kits, one was sent off to a 3rd party lab for independent confirmation. We purchased two products, a white-bread loaf, and a sourdough loaf from Great Specialty Products - a website (greatspecialtyproducts [dot] com), and formerly a physical store, based in North Carolina. Both samples, when evaluated with an EZ Gluten Kit, showed ‘High Gluten’ (photos and details below). We were present for two other samples (a dinner roll and another white-bread loaf) when other EZ-Gluten Kits were run and showed ‘High Gluten’. Two others shared results which were not run in our presence, which both showed high gluten. For an EZ-Gluten kit, a reading of ‘High Gluten‘ indicates 200 ppm or more.
One of these six samples was sent to a 3rd party lab for independent testing, it too found ‘High’ levels of gluten. For the [3rd party] AOAC approved test, High levels of gluten meant 80 ppm or more. As of this writing, seven (7) different tests show products from Great Specialty Products to be high in gluten as defined by the relevant test.
EZ Gluten has shown 'High Gluten' on 6 Great Specialty Products breads.
A summary of the results are listed below:
- White Loaf / Delivered 12.7 / Tested 12.10 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm (JN)
- Sourdough Loaf / Delivered 12.7 / Tested 12.10 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm (JN)
- French Dinner Rolls / Delivered 12.3 / Tested 12.5 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm (JN)
- Sourdough Loaf / Delivered 11.25 / Tested 12.3 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm
- Flour Tortilla / Delivered 11.25 / Tested 12.3 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm
- Multi-Grain Bread / Delivered 11.25 / Tested 12.3 / EZGluten EZG90529-9 / Result = High Gluten, >200 ppm
- French Dinner Rolls / Delivered 12.3 / Tested 12.10 / 3rd Party AOAC Quantitative Gluten ELISA / Result = High Gluten, >80 ppm (JN)
We believe the likelihood of contamination of these samples since delivery is very low; they were handled by individuals with CD or by establishments that are well-versed in GF food preparation. Chain-of-custody for each of these samples has been recorded. For the four samples marked (JN), we have retained frozen representatives. All users of the EZ Gluten kits were experienced in their use and photos of their use have been retained.
Product Delivery
The products were delivered door-to-door, but had no labeling, nor an ingredient list. We called a Food Compliance Officer at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (”NCDA&CS”), who stated that if such a delivery had occurred, it would be a violation of North Carolina State Law. NCDA&CS further stated that the same laws would be applied to an online retailer as would those that applied to a physical store. North Carolina law also supports Federal law in relation to following GMP and allergen labeling.
Re-Packaged Desserts
In past weeks, Great Specialty Products had an area on their site titled, “Gluten Free Specialty Desserts.” Two desserts from this area had been delivered to a customer with the original wrappers from the primary manufacturer, an un-associated private-label food manufacturer. When the original manufacturer was called, they stated that their products were not gluten free. Website photos from the non-gluten free photos were being used to promote the Great Specialty Products desserts, again the Great Specialty Products were represented with a Gluten Free product claim. The original manufacturer immediately set about correcting the situation. It appears that this portion of the site has now been removed, an archive of the page can be found here.
Notification
Prior to this post Great Specialty Products was informed that based on the results we had received that their products contain gluten. We attempted to ask questions about ingredients and the source of their product claims.
Final Comments
Several products from Great Specialty Products have been to have high levels of gluten in contrast to their product claims of 'Gluten Free.'
As someone with CD on the GFD, I am immensely grateful to any group that makes GF products. We recognize that kits have their weaknesses, that suppliers may provide ingredients that are out of spec, and that accidents do happen. We routinely run EZ Gluten kits when it is difficult to tell if ingredients have gluten or not. The kits were run in this instance after the products were delivered unlabeled without an ingredient list.
