I just don’t understand,
maybe because I was born in an era where you had to research stuff for
accuracy. Not just school, but life. You couldn’t just post a picture on
Facebook and ask “Is this gluten free?” No you had to take time to call, email,
write a company and ask, “Hi what is your policy on gluten free products? Do
you have gluten free products?” So you can imagine I was a bit skeptical about
an app that scans products to look for gluten.
OK don’t get me wrong, I
love convenience items, but I’ve worked with technology development, it’s not
perfect. It can only be as smart as the programmer (Or the person who wrote the
specs for the programmer) so how can an app accurately tell me if a product
contains gluten? I’ve yet to see one that is spot on all the time. Ingredient
sources and ingredients change often how can they keep up with that? There are
several reason why the apps are not accurate.
1 – They don’t work with the
manufacturers to find out ingredient sources. Aldi’s corporation has a lot of
gluten free products with their fancy logo saying so. One day I contacted them regarding
an item without that logo. Their response was “we can’t verify ingredient
sources, so it might not be safe, we don’t put the logo on the package.” So
while it may look safe because you don’t see gluten ingredients listed, it
might be highly cross contaminated, How is an app going to verify that??
2 – The information in the
barcode may not be accurate or the full truth. Manufacturers are NOT REQUIRED
to label if an item is made on shared lines or in a shared facility. Birdseye
Veggies always scan as 100% safe on every app I’ve seen. They’re made on shared
lines, which for many Celiac suffers means No purchase. I’m sure they’re not the only
one this happens with.
3 – They don’t know
ingredients country of origin, Maltodextrin in the US is generally not made
with wheat, and if it is, will be listed, since wheat is 1 of the top 8
allergens. Maltodextrin along with Starches and Sugar tend to make apps hiccup;
why, because outside the US it might be made with wheat, and the app doesn’t
know where it’s from.
These reasons alone make me
cringe when someone says “I Trust The App Over The Packaging” Really?? OMG NO! Honestly?
The app doesn’t care if it’s right, but the manufacturer does, because there
are lots of risks of having wrong information on a package. I find it rather
frightening we blindly trust technology over people we ask questions to face to
face, or purchase.
For an item to be labeled gluten
free, in the US it has to be assumed to have less than 20ppm of gluten in the
product, so If you scan it with an app and it says “May contain gluten” Check
if it contains any Starch, Sugar, or Maltodextrin. Those items alone will make
the app hiccup and give you a false answer. When in doubt reach out to the
company. You’ll get the best, most accurate answer to your question. Yes it
takes you an extra 5 minutes you can’t browse Facebook or post to Instagram,
but that little bit of research will give you an accurate answer that you can
confidently share with others.
I keep a draft email written and I copy and paste it into an email or on the online forms to a company. It won't hurt to ask, yes you have to wait, the response won't be instantaneous, but you'll get a better answer. Another place to look, on the company website! You'd be shocked how informative FAQ's are on a company site.
An email I received recently thanked me for reaching out to ask about their products and applauded that I let them know how important correct labeling is for them as a company. As people with food allergies we always complain how we want more people to be aware and understand us, but we don't stand up and let our voice be heard where it's most important. - To the people who manufacture our food! Yes if you suffer with anxiety talking to strange people can be scary, but it's really what we need to be doing to get our voices heard. Contact companies ask the questions, press them why they don't label if it's gluten free. That is how we can both get the most accurate information but also get our voice heard.
I keep a draft email written and I copy and paste it into an email or on the online forms to a company. It won't hurt to ask, yes you have to wait, the response won't be instantaneous, but you'll get a better answer. Another place to look, on the company website! You'd be shocked how informative FAQ's are on a company site.
An email I received recently thanked me for reaching out to ask about their products and applauded that I let them know how important correct labeling is for them as a company. As people with food allergies we always complain how we want more people to be aware and understand us, but we don't stand up and let our voice be heard where it's most important. - To the people who manufacture our food! Yes if you suffer with anxiety talking to strange people can be scary, but it's really what we need to be doing to get our voices heard. Contact companies ask the questions, press them why they don't label if it's gluten free. That is how we can both get the most accurate information but also get our voice heard.
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