The not so ‘Free From’ range

If you suffer from a wheat/gluten intolerance, allergy or Coeliac Disease, you have a right to believe food marked as such and sold in reputable supermarkets is safe for you to eat.

Unfortunately, a worrying story emerged this week that many of our main food retailers were recalling some of their Gluten Free (GF) products due to contamination by an ingredient used in the baking process.

Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose all issued alerts for products ranging from pitta breads and pizza bases to naans, scones, crumpets and pancakes, leaving those put at risk by the error either hungry, or - far worse - potentially unwell.

So how did so many own-brand products, seemingly unrelated, all wind up posing a potential risk? It would seem that ‘own-brand’ really just means ‘our label on someone else’s product’, as the various bread-based foodstuffs were all made by a bakery run by the ironically-named food company Genius.

Whilst replacing “Geni” with “Dangerou” might seem more appropriate in this instance, the practice of supermarkets buying in products and branding them as their own is commonplace. If you’ve ever said “Wow – this tastes exactly the same as the ‘proper’ ones!” it may well be because it is.

To add to the confusion and alarm, a few days later Twitter was alive with concerns that chocolate muffins and brownies were also on the list. And it wasn’t just a rogue batch, or one day that was affected – the bread products had a range of best before dates.

Although the Food Standards Agency described the risk posed as very low, this will not have provided a safe-to-eat-crumb of comfort to those with particularly sensitivity.

This is a blow for sufferers already having to contend with accusations of just being “faddy” or the assumption that their legitimate concern is really just a trendy diet plan that some Hollywood star has their kids on.

It’s already hard enough to dine out, as many eateries still fail to understand just how many surprising ingredients contain wheat or gluten, and assume that a couple of slices of GF bread will suffice, or look surprised when you ask to see the ingredients for the mayo.

Similarly, cross-contamination can wreck someone’s day – using the same tongs to pick up a GF cake as a Gluten-laden one, or popping your GF slice in the same toaster as the regular bread. Even the crumbs in a margarine tub can cause problems.

This is a confidence blow for the afflicted. It’s tough enough having to live with the pain, discomfort and other health problems, plus the lottery that is dining out, without the unwelcome news that even products you thought were safe to consume in your own home might make you ill.

If all this left you with was a bad taste in the mouth, like salt in your tea instead of sugar, it could be shrugged off. When it could make you ill... well, that’s much harder to stomach.

This post first appeared as my "Thank grumpy it's Friday" column, in the North West Evening Mail, on the 12th of June 2015, where it was retitled as "When 'Free From' range maybe isn't". Uh... OK.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the implication that a food manufacturer's product might be dangerous was dropped from the print version. I'd offer you the chance to view the version the paper did publish on their website, but again it's hasn't appeared. If you want to keep an eye out for it, have a look here - you can always read one of my fellow columnists' similarly not-very-recent offerings whilst you're there.

A subject close to my heart this one, and I'm still irritated that this story didn't get more mainstream coverage. The level of ignorance about gluten and how if can affect some people is only outweighed by the startling belief by many 'normal' people that, for some reason, they can't eat GF food. Or that it's all horrible.

True... some of it is bloody nasty, especially some of the prescription crap, but there's actually a lot of really good stuff out there too, that I'd challenge anyone to spot the difference when eating. Some restaurants get it too, and are a welcome oasis in a vast desert of ineptitude for those with issues.

On a more positive note, generally things seem to be improving.

I just had an awesome homemade GF pizza actually. Nice one, Mrs G...

(CD singles? Yup - still at it. I'm not ashamed to say that the current one spinning is "Do The Bartman". Eat my shorts, dude.)

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