In the context of the gluten-free baking mix recalls the team at Custom Choice Cereal would like to point you to the FDA’s Food Safety website where information about current food recalls and salmonella is provided. The website also offers useful information such as outbreak maps as well as lists of recalled products and stores that sold these products.

Any food recalls and especially those involving salmonella should not be taken lightly! Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems!

Custom Choice Cereal needs to inform you that GFN Foods is recalling certain lots of the following gluten-free baking mixes because they could be contaminated with salmonella:

• Gluten-Free Naturals Pancake Mix – UPC 187058 000043
  Lots 09159 (expires 12/8/2010), 09320 (expires 5/16/12) and 09322 (expires 5/18/12)
• Gluten-Free Naturals Light & Moist Yellow Cake Mix – UPC 187058 000067
  Lots 09083 (expires 9/24/10) and 09322 (expires 5/18/12)
• Gluten-Free Naturals Cookie Blend Flour – UPC 187058 000029
  Lots 09086 (expires 6/24/10), 09219 (expires 11/7/10) and 10035 (expires 5/4/11)

These mixes were sold online and in stores in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the country. GFN Foods stated that this is a voluntary recall triggered by sourcing a soy flour from a company called Thumb Oilseed Producers Cooperative. At this company, traces of salmonella were found on a non-processing surface during an FDA inspection. No salmonella was found in the flour or on the actual processing equipment.

Please make sure you have a look at the lists and check your cabinet for any of the products mentioned!

Our neighbors to the North are also concerned about celiac disease and are researching potential drugs that celiacs can use to treat their condition. Custom Choice Cereal was very excited when we came across a pill that showed promising results in the first clinical trials.

Dr. Richard N. Fedorak from the University of Alberta has helped to develop a drug called Larazotide Acetate.

The drug comes in form of a pill and has shown to prevent some of the damage to the small intestine that gluten. While it is not meant as a cure for celiac disease it can provide some freedom and relief after an accidental ingestion of gluten. The drug could become available as early as 2012.

It’s a small step but at least a step in the right direction. As part of our customer service we will as always keep our ears and eyes open and update you in case we hear about any new developments!

Custom Choice Cereal feels privileged that Dr. Stephen Wangen agreed to answer your questions on celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergy and anything around a gluten-free life once a month. The good news: you can still post your questions as comments to yesterday’s third Q&A session with Dr. Wangen blog entry.

We mentioned before that Dr. Wangen wrote the book “Healthier without Wheat”. Tina Turbin from GlutenFreeHelp coincidentally reviewed Dr. Wangen’s book on her blog yesterday. She writes that “My highest respect goes to Dr. Wagnen for his straightforward approach to clarifying the test available for determining celiac disease as well as the testing for non-celiac forms of gluten intolerance. In the end, anyone reading this book will have a full understanding of how wheat can affect one’s life…”

We think that this is a great encouragement to ask Dr. Wangen your questions. It’s a rare opportunity to be able to interact directly with such a high-profile expert, so please don’t be shy!

Custom Choice Cereal is very excited to be featured in a review on Foodcents’ Blog. But there is also excitement in it for you because if you create a gluten-free cereal mix on our website leave a comment on the blog entry about our custom gluten-free cereal by March 6, then you’ll have a chance to win a custom gluten-free cereal mix of your choice! There are a couple of further actions listed to increase your chance of winning, so go ahead and check it out!

Foodcents writes that “Custom Choice Cereal is the only 100% gluten-free cereal site on the internet which also operates a 100% gluten free facility.” She also states about the two gluten-free cereal creations she had: “I loved the abundance of nuts, seeds and fruit which are included. These are nice and fresh tasting ingredients, which are plentiful throughout the mix.”

Having had some bad experiences with customer service in the past ourselves, we at Custom Choice Cereal strive to provide outstanding service to our customers and answer any questions within an hour. It was therefore very pleasing to read the following recognition of our efforts: “I cannot finish this up without mentioning the FANTASTIC customer service that Custom Choice Cereal provides. These guys are on top of the products and there to help consumers with any questions they might have along the way. I can think of more than a few companies that could you a little customer service training for these guys!!!”

Thank you, receiving such positive feedback always feels great, and it encourages us to continue what we are doing!

The celiac community in North Carolina, across the United States, and even internationally was very upset when the news surfaced of a company in North Carolina advertising its bread as gluten-free even though it wasn’t. Local celiacs helped unmask this scheme by writing about it on their blogs (such as Fred from Juno Nutrition whose tests revealed the bread did contain gluten). Since the company was subsequently shut and and since Custom Choice Cereal tries to look at the bright side of things, we looked at the potential positive long-term effects of this de-facto enforcement of gluten-free labeling in January.

A very active local celiac who writes the blog Gluten Free Raleigh provided a great summary of the court hearing on Great Special Products and its owner Mr. Seelig that took place on February 2 here in Raleigh. During a meeting of the local chapter of the Celiac Sprue Association that took place last, representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services were so kind to give an update on the case. We try to summarize the most important take-aways below.

• They thanked the celiac community because without them this would not have been possible – from bringing the case to their attention, to testifying in court, to increasing the number of complaints, local celiacs played a crucial role
• Great Specialty Products has been shut down, and the website has been taken offline
• Please do NOT consume any products you might still have at home!
• A Preliminary Injunction is in effect, and while the word “preliminary” might sound like this measure might expire or be temporary, it does in fact mean that additional legal action is required to remove it
• Complaints keep coming in (including one from Iowa on Wednesday). If you purchased bread or other bakery products from Great Specialty Products - especially in January 2010 – and have not already done so, please contact the NCDA&CS
• Anonymous complaints can be filed and have the same weight, the only difference is that the filer won’t be contacted

The next court date is set for February 24th, and we will definitely keep you posted on what will happen then.

When Custom Choice Cereal was in the process of setting up our gluten-free facility and operations in June 2009, we posted about calling manufacturers of different cleaning supplies to make sure they are gluten-free. To our own shock we had to find out back then that a lot of them actually contained wheat, and it made us realize that “this stuff really is everywhere”.

We are not trying to sound too schizophrenic, but at the end of the day we need to ensure for your safety that our facility truly is gluten-free. Along the same lines your dish soap at your homes is in direct contact with utensils that you subsequently use to consume food. If your dishes are porous there actually might be a danger that the dish soap you use cross-contaminates the food with wheat (= gluten). Granted the likelihood of this happening is small, but if you or your child(ren) have an extreme case of celiac disease you cannot be careful enough.

We therefore only use Mrs. Meyer’s Household Cleaners. The following is an encouraging statement that we copied from the company’s website:

All cleaners work really well and are available through the website or at Target. Our conclusion: great product and highly recommended at least for dish soap if you want to be on the safe side. If this is a concern of yours or if you use another product, please let us know and leave a comment!

The moment Custom Choice Cereal launched we were told again and again that we have to meet with Zach, a local celiac and author of the blog Gluten Free Raleigh. His blog is a great resource about anything gluten-free, and he shares his experiences about eating out, testing products, and other advice for (newly diagnosed or veteran) celiacs. He is also very active in the celiac community and launched a petition for the requirement of posting a food allergy poster at every restaurant in Wake county.

After recently having met Zach at our facility we are extremely happy to see his review of the custom gluten-free cereal mix that he created while he was here. He writes that “Hajo told me that I wouldn’t have to worry about the bag lasting very long and he was right. Although it’s nice to finally have a resealable bag for cereal – this product honestly doesn’t last long enough to need it!”.

Given the recent incident where a company sold bread labeled as gluten-free that tested positive for gluten, Zach was especially glad to hear about our rigorous testing policy. Custom Choice Cereal does everything in our power to ensure that our custom gluten-free cereal mixes are safe to consume, and we will never compromise on this! You can read his entire product review by clicking on the picture below.

There are two sides to everything, and Custom Choice Cereal likes to look at the positive side of what if confirmed is a rather nasty incident that happened right here in the Triangle in North Carolina. Some of you probably came across the newspaper article about a company selling gluten-free bread that might in fact have turned out not to be gluten-free.

Several people with celiac disease who purchased the bread at the NC State Fair in Raleigh last year said they showed their typical celiac symptoms like rashes and bowel movements. The rash Rebecca Fernandez’ pre-school aged son developed are captured in a movie at MyNC.com. Blogger Fred Lybrand also tested seven loafs of the supposedly gluten-free bread and tested them for gluten. All of his tests came back positive.

The owner of the company claims that if his bread really had been gluten-contaminated he would have received many more complaints. While he is presumed innocent until proven guilty this is a bad argument as not all celiacs necessarily show symptoms despite damage being done to their small intestine.

Taking their job very seriously, the NCDA&CS filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the company. While we are saddened that this incident happened in “our” State, it also sets a precedent for the de-facto enforcement of gluten-free labeling. Custom Choice Cereal thinks this is good news! It is also a good reminder to constantly read labels, coordinate with other celiacs in your respective communities, and to speak up!

As many of you probably know from experience, baking without gluten can be a challenge because the gluten protein is responsible for making dough elastic and stretchy. It also traps gas in baked goods which results in a light, airy structure.

Custom Choice Cereal wrote about the most important take-aways from a celiac support group meeting that we attended in our blog entry Celiac disease & gluten-free diet options. But speaker Lesley Stanford from the Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center also shared a short guide on gluten-free baking. The guide was compiled by the Colorado State University Extension, a center that offers “reliable, research-based information to help you make informed decisions”.

The guide includes

• an overview of gluten replacement products and their qualities
• gluten-free flour blend formulations
• advice on gums and binders (eggs are the most common binder in
  gluten-free baking)
• tips on how to increase moisture, enhance flavor/structure/texture

Whether you’ve had trouble baking gluten-free or are an expert, we highly recommend you download by clicking on the picture below.  It’s definitely worthwhile to print and have it handy in the kitchen at all times!