The Importance of a Dedicated Gluten Free Facility

 

This is a MUST READ for anyone that needs to be glutenfree. The pendulum swings back and forth about the importance of a GF facility and why it is so necessary. This article from Kinnikinnick Foods who is a dedicated gluten free manufacturer, pretty much sums it all up. Here’s a little excerpt:

Fog of Gluten

“We are doing some testing of new equipment at a non-GF facility to see if that type of equipment can be used for our products. Our first day of trials was quite a reminder of why we are a dedicated facility. Flour dust hung like a fog in the air; it clung to our clothes and skin like glue (gluten!) , and I actually had a reaction later that day as I wasn’t wearing a mask. Of course, the trial products went into the trash at the end of the day and we actually had to change clothes and wash our shoes before returning to Kinnikinnick as we were a contamination risk. I just don’t know how anyone could make GF & non-GF products in the same building. Flour dust is -everywhere-“

Please share and pass this information on. The more we educate the safer our food becomes.

For more information:
kinnikinnick.com

Tags: Celiac, celiac awareness, celiac safe, cross contamination, dedicated gluten free facility, gf, GF Tips, gfree, Gluten Free, glutened, Kinnikinnick

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  1. Reply

    For some reason on the mobile version the content of your posts doesn’t show up 🙁

    1. Thank you

  2. Reply

    For some reason on the mobile version the content of your posts doesn’t show up 🙁

    1. Thank you

  3. Reply

    That’s so frustrating that you got glutened on things that were supposedly gluten-free! I remember when I first stopped eating gluten in january, I didn’t buy any packaged foods at all, all I ate were fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts and seeds. And I felt awesome! Now as the months have gone by I’ve slowly introduced ‘gluten-free’ packaged foods and while I’m not necessarily getting glutened all the time, I feel like there’s a slight veil of fatigue over me. So this week I started back on whole foods only with no packaged stuff to see if it’ll go away. My doctor also told me that I’m anemic on my last visit so maybe the low iron is what’s making me feel tired… Ugh it’s all so complicated sometimes :S

    1. It might have to do with the sugar, because packaged foods generally means processed foods and when yu go from whole food to adding boxed food, your body might have reactions to it. Plus, glutenfree food isn’t 100% because companies are allowed 20ppm (parts per million) in food. But yes vitamin deficiencies are a real problem with Celiac or Sensitivity because your intestines have been sick, not able to absorb vitamins and people tend to get malnourished. It is complicated and a pain in the arse but the best two quotes I have are these, “If we view Celiac Disease not as an unhealthy response to a healthy food, but as a healthy response to an unhealthy food” and “I believe we would be better served by viewing symptoms of CD as expressions of bodily intelligence rather than deviance”.

      I would imagine that you might be deficient in a lot of different vitamins and nutrients. Do you take a multivitamin or do juicing?

      1. Reply

        Hmm that’s really a lot to think about. Great quotes also! I’ve actually wondered about sugar, especially since the other day when I cooked some rhubarb with quite a bit of sugar (basically pie without the crust) and had it on top on gluten free biscuit that I’d had before with no symptoms, I had this feeling of being extremely full even if the portion wasn’t big at all, kind of like bloating I guess. There was a lot of sugar in there so it really made me think…
        When my doctor told me my iron was low, I asked him about taking multivitamins but he said there was no need because everything else was fine. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt though…

        1. Oh my gosh well definitely an iron vitamin is necessary and some iron rich foods to add to your diet are:

          Beets, Prunes, Sesame, Walnuts, Lentils, Blueberries, Sweet Potatoes, Quinoa and Garbanzo Beans. And of course red meat is always a great source. But yes yes yes start now, today.

  4. Reply

    That’s so frustrating that you got glutened on things that were supposedly gluten-free! I remember when I first stopped eating gluten in january, I didn’t buy any packaged foods at all, all I ate were fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts and seeds. And I felt awesome! Now as the months have gone by I’ve slowly introduced ‘gluten-free’ packaged foods and while I’m not necessarily getting glutened all the time, I feel like there’s a slight veil of fatigue over me. So this week I started back on whole foods only with no packaged stuff to see if it’ll go away. My doctor also told me that I’m anemic on my last visit so maybe the low iron is what’s making me feel tired… Ugh it’s all so complicated sometimes :S

    • Jennifer Herkommer
    • July 2, 2013
    Reply

    The bad one are the ones that say “no glutens.” Both times for me it was corn tortilla chips. One of the companies is a big maker of chips called On the Border….the chips were soooo good and sold at Sam’s Club. But after eating a few times, I knew something was not right and it was getting worse. Unfortunately I ate a bunch of those. Then six months later we were in a gourmet grocery store. Another tortilla chip with the words “no glutens” on it. They were in a neat looking bag. The name started with an X (can’t remember the rest but on the back it said is was pronounced “so chill,” and these were so thin and crispy good. But, again, a couple of servings later I’m feeling horrible, bloated, bathroom issues… ugh! I was so mad! This did it for me. I will not eat tortilla chips without the certified gluten free symbol or from someone who says dedicated facility (like frito lays) (but of course I will not frito lays tortilla chips really either because they are GMO!…booo on them). Anyway, we are definitely at a point where we look for certified GF and if in doubt we stay away. It is a big company like Kraft, you have to be careful. They are labeling when wheat is present. They have a lot of smaller companies under their umbrella. Like Planters is owned or managed by them. They have nut bars with barley extract… So basically, label reading is a must.

      • Jennifer Herkommer
      • July 2, 2013
      Reply

      What I forgot to say is that corn can be ground on the same equipment that wheat is ground on. And who know what trucks brought them to the facility. Maybe the trucks carried wheat too. So wheat can get in with the corn. I knot that Frito Lay will not say they are gluten free if the product had ANY possibility coming in contact with wheat or a wheat ingredient. So at least their gluten free labeled chips I can trust because someone at Frito Lay gets it. I wish all food companies like this would go through learning to understand gluten and what make something truly gluten free!

      1. Reply

        Hmm that’s really a lot to think about. Great quotes also! I’ve actually wondered about sugar, especially since the other day when I cooked some rhubarb with quite a bit of sugar (basically pie without the crust) and had it on top on gluten free biscuit that I’d had before with no symptoms, I had this feeling of being extremely full even if the portion wasn’t big at all, kind of like bloating I guess. There was a lot of sugar in there so it really made me think…
        When my doctor told me my iron was low, I asked him about taking multivitamins but he said there was no need because everything else was fine. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt though…

        1. Oh my gosh well definitely an iron vitamin is necessary and some iron rich foods to add to your diet are:

          Beets, Prunes, Sesame, Walnuts, Lentils, Blueberries, Sweet Potatoes, Quinoa and Garbanzo Beans. And of course red meat is always a great source. But yes yes yes start now, today.

    • Jennifer Herkommer
    • July 2, 2013
    Reply

    The bad one are the ones that say “no glutens.” Both times for me it was corn tortilla chips. One of the companies is a big maker of chips called On the Border….the chips were soooo good and sold at Sam’s Club. But after eating a few times, I knew something was not right and it was getting worse. Unfortunately I ate a bunch of those. Then six months later we were in a gourmet grocery store. Another tortilla chip with the words “no glutens” on it. They were in a neat looking bag. The name started with an X (can’t remember the rest but on the back it said is was pronounced “so chill,” and these were so thin and crispy good. But, again, a couple of servings later I’m feeling horrible, bloated, bathroom issues… ugh! I was so mad! This did it for me. I will not eat tortilla chips without the certified gluten free symbol or from someone who says dedicated facility (like frito lays) (but of course I will not frito lays tortilla chips really either because they are GMO!…booo on them). Anyway, we are definitely at a point where we look for certified GF and if in doubt we stay away. It is a big company like Kraft, you have to be careful. They are labeling when wheat is present. They have a lot of smaller companies under their umbrella. Like Planters is owned or managed by them. They have nut bars with barley extract… So basically, label reading is a must.

      • Jennifer Herkommer
      • July 2, 2013
      Reply

      What I forgot to say is that corn can be ground on the same equipment that wheat is ground on. And who know what trucks brought them to the facility. Maybe the trucks carried wheat too. So wheat can get in with the corn. I knot that Frito Lay will not say they are gluten free if the product had ANY possibility coming in contact with wheat or a wheat ingredient. So at least their gluten free labeled chips I can trust because someone at Frito Lay gets it. I wish all food companies like this would go through learning to understand gluten and what make something truly gluten free!

  5. Well what types of products are we talking about? There’s a great app called, Fooducate, that scans barcodes and tells you the ingredients and what they are, it’s really handy. Generally speaking you want to keep to products that say certified GlutenFree and stay away from products that are made in a wheat facility. It’s never a bad idea to call the company, especially if something says ‘natural flavors’. I called Claussen Pickles to see what what was in theirs and I was told, “there may be trace amounts of gluten in our natural flavoring”, so I shouldn’t eat them. I wouldn’t have known unless I called. Corn is also a big one to watch out for because that has serious cross contamination possibilities. I get sick from commercial store-bought corn taco shells.

  6. Reply

    Wow that’s really interesting… I only found out I was gluten intolerant about 7 months ago and there’s still something I can’t seem to figure out: on some labels it says that such and such item was processed somewhere that also processes gluten, so I stay away from those, but what about the labels that say nothing at all? They don’t contain gluten ingredients, but there’s no mention of them being gluten free either. In that case is it just best to stay away, or call the company to make sure?

    1. Well what types of products are we talking about? There’s a great app called, Fooducate, that scans barcodes and tells you the ingredients and what they are, it’s really handy. Generally speaking you want to keep to products that say certified GlutenFree and stay away from products that are made in a wheat facility. It’s never a bad idea to call the company, especially if something says ‘natural flavors’. I called Claussen Pickles to see what what was in theirs and I was told, “there may be trace amounts of gluten in our natural flavoring”, so I shouldn’t eat them. I wouldn’t have known unless I called. Corn is also a big one to watch out for because that has serious cross contamination possibilities. I get sick from commercial store-bought corn taco shells.

      1. Reply

        That’s great to know, especially about the corn because I eat a lot of it. I eat tortilla chips a lot but I only get the ones that are gluten free. Do you just mean things made of corn, or is there also a risk with just regular frozen/canned corn?

        1. I think there is risk with any type of corn because it usually is not only same machine or warehouse cross contamination but the crops can grow very close to each other. You just have to see how your body feels. But if you are eating that much corn consider that it is also probably genetically modified unless it is organic and you might want to switch it up.

      2. I think there is risk with any type of corn because it usually is not only same machine or warehouse cross contamination but the crops can grow very close to each other. You just have to see how your body feels. But if you are eating that much corn consider that it is also probably genetically modified unless it is organic and you might want to switch it up.

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