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.

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!

Custom Choice Cereal has been wanting to write about this great social networking website for a while now. Adding this to our list of New Year’s resolutions apparently helped…

Gluten-Free Faces is a great website that allows anyone interested in or already on a gluten-free diet to connect with people from the gluten-free community. The functionality is obviously similar to facebook – by the way, if you have not done so already, feel free to become a fan of Custom Choice Cereal on facebook – but there is more. We especially like the very active discussion forum where members talk about food safety, gluten tests, celiac disease, symptoms, recommendations, etc. because it is a great resource for anyone new to the gluten-free lifestyle.

Other features include gluten-free recipes, resources with links to gluten-free information and products, events, and videos. We suggest you definitely check it out. Just click on the picture below, and you are directed straight to our presence on Gluten Free Faces!

The Huffington Post published an article by Dr. Mark Hyman on the long-term effect of gluten-intake entitled “Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You“. The article summarizes the findings of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at almost 30,000 patients between 1969 and 2008 and examined their deaths. Key findings are

• Those with celiac disease had a 39% increased risk of death
• Those with gluten-caused gut inflammation had a 72% increased risk of death
• Those with gluten sensitivity but not celiac disease had a 35% increased risk of death

This confirms a study by Dr. Joseph A. Murray that we wrote about on October 16, 2009. His research showed that over the past 50 years (a) the frequency of celiac disease increased significantly and that (b) those with celiac disease were almost four times(!) as likely to have died than those without it.

These are scary news that become even more scary when taking into consideration that the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center estimates that 97% of celiacs are currently still undiagnosed.

Dr. Hyman’s recommendation (and Custom Choice Cereal agrees): eliminate 100% of all gluten for 2-4 weeks from your diet and see if you feel any better. Then reintroduce gluten into your diet, and if you feel bad at all you should permanently switch to a gluten-free diet.

It’s 2010, and to start the year on the right foot Custom Choice Cereal now allows you to add Goji Berries to your gluten-free cereal!

We know how big a concern potential cross-contamination of naturally gluten-free ingredients is for some of you. We therefore carefully selected a vendor and tested the incoming goji berries with gluten using the EZ Gluten test from Elisa Technologies (sensitive to 10 parts per million) to make sure that they are safe to consume.

Did you know that goji berry is the commercial name for the fruits also known as Wolfberries? Native to Asia, this sweet red fruit is often times described as ranging in taste somewhere between a cherry and a cranberry. We usually display all ingredients alphabetically but chose to make an exception in this case . Find out for yourself and add a serving of dried goji berries to your customized gluten-free cereal – start mixing now!

I came across a very interesting and helpful blog entry at Jens Gluten Free Blog this morning.  It is a guest blog entry written Nancy Kohler who suffers from multiple food intolerances and authors the blog The Sensitive Pantry.  I liked the post because it tackles how people with a gluten-intolerance or celiac disease can start out living gluten-free.  Nancy put more details in her blog, but the basics of her 5 steps to living gluten-free are

1. Accept. It means a change in life-stlye
2. Learn. About gluten.  From a dietitian, websites, blogs, iPhone apps
3. Read. Ingredient labels.  Don’t hesitate to call a manufacturer
4. Eat. Cook gluten-free recipes.  Choose GF options at restaurants
5. Live. Embrace your new life-style.  100%

This list is a very good starting point.  There was a comment to the blog that I totally agree with, and I therefore add it here because I believe it is important:

• Join. A support group.

The Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Sprue Association, and Cel Kids Network are great resources to learn from others and share experiences.  It is also important to realize that there is No Need to Panic – plenty of people are in the same situation though it might be intimidating at first. We had a little discussion here at Custom Choice Cereal and agreed that continuously reading a couple of the outstanding gluten-free blogs that are available (see our blogroll on the right hand side) is crucial and should be included in “Read”.  I wanted to thank Nancy for this great blog entry because I am sure it helps a lot of people who are overwhelmed by their diagnosis.

We said before that the safety of our customers and quality management are the top priority at Custom Choice Cereal. Since our actual ingredients have arrived and great product pictures been taken, it was now time for us to test these ingredients for gluten. This is primarily a safety measure that we take for you.

The results of our tests revealed: all ingredients are truly gluten-free as they should be. Here’s a picture of the test result for the Pumpkin Seeds, showing the test strip on the far left on the results card:

Custom Choice Cereal’s local ingredient supplier kindly provided us with free samples of the key ingredients we want to start out with.  These are the dried fruit, nuts and seeds that you will be able to add to your mix to customize your personal favorite cereal.

We use the EZ Gluten test from Elisa Technologies, which is sensitive enough to detect levels of gluten as low as 10 parts per million (ppm).  The tests revealed that none of the ingredients contain gluten. Because quality management and the safety of our customers has the highest priority for us, we will continue to test all incoming ingredients for gluten and post the results on this blog for everyone to see.