right, i wrote to genius reguarding my reaction to their "gluten free" cheese & onion slices... this is what i received....

[xxtwheatyxx]

Dear Rachel

Thank you for your email. We are sorry to hear that you were ill after eating Genius Cheese and Onion Slices. We passed your concerns to our bakery and this was their response;

We take consumer food safety very seriously and we have a fully integrated HACCP system to prevent complaints of this nature. The factory we manufacture from is not only bespoke and solely for the production of gluten free products, but also designed around the Codex Alimentarius legislation changes that came into force in 2012.

All of our suppliers are vetted and audited , and all raw ingredient specifications are continuously reviewed to ensure suitability for Coeliacs.

We do retain a sample of products from every batch manufactured so if the customer is able to provide us with the 5 digit traceability code from the product packaging I would be more than happy to send our retained sample away for gluten analysis to verify that the product meets the legislative requirements.

If you can supply the traceability code (from the box beside the best before date) we can pass it straight to the bakery so that they can arrange the check.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Customer Care Advisor

22 Northumberland Street, South West Lane

Edinburgh EH3 6JD

United Kingdom

Tel: [phone]

geniusglutenfree.com

facebook.com/geniusglutenfree

@GeniusFoods

-----Original Message-----

From: [e-mail] [mailto:[e-mail]]

Sent: 08 February 2012 12:32

To: Genius Gluten Free

Subject: Feedback from geniusglutenfree.com

Comments:

hi genius, i am not the type to complain, but,

a few days ago i was ding my usual weekly shop in asda, and i noticed that

they had some new "treats" in the frozen section (free from of course) I

got all excited and purchased some on you're cheese and onion slices. i got

home and popped them in the oven as it was lunch time and i was eager to

try you're product. i took them out the oven they looked/smelled almost as

if they were "normal" slices! they tasted absolutely delicious. but.. they

weren't safe for me, within 4hours i was in complete agony, i have not had

a reaction like that in a long time, i read you're ingredients, and i don't

know if its because the food regulations have changed and you have 20ppm or

less in you're products now, or whether its down to the fact that you're

ingredients have indeed got wheat/gluten in them. i am very upset about

this matter as you state on the front gluten and wheat free, so why should

i have to doubt this, why can't i just relax and if it says gluten free

then it is intact gluten free. yure ingredients have more than 1 ingredient

that could be gluten, i.e

Non hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

Dried Glucose Syrup

Dextrose

Modified starch

Vegetable Fat Powder

Dried Glucose Syrup (again)

modified starch is basically another word for processed wheat, = not gluten

free, the other ingredients which *could* potentially be derived from

wheat/gluten containing sources and more sensitive coeliacs could suffer.

do you already know this? and if so why do you label you're packaging

gluten free, i think you should be more concerning for us coeliacs as its

not a lifestyle choice its a dietary requirement and we have no choice on

the matter, at least you could put on the back with the allergen info that

could contain gluten, i don't know, i just wanted you to know as like me

there are more of us out there that will probably have the same issue as me

with you're product(s) and get very ill, its not just an upset tummy, its a

few days of violent damage to our bodies. i regret to have had to write

this email to you and i hope you understand that i am only concerned for

others being ill. rachel

[leslaki]

Hello, Just to say i got exactly the same response when i complained about their steak pies having only two pieces of meat one of which was grizzle and the gravy is so strong in those pies, exact same wording was the reply. I did get a voucher £5 i think. I did buy the pies one more time, a bit more meat but the gravy still so thick, pastry nice though.

did you get a voucher yet?

[xxtwheatyxx in reply to leslaki]

fortunately i did not receive a £5 voucher, i wouldn't have used it although it shows how unbothered they are regarding my complaint. we need to get something going to the government to make some sort of label on all "gluten free" food on wether it contains 20ppm in it, there is a wide gap between a lot of coeliacs some more sensitive than others why should the more sensitive half suffer!! i am on a mission!! who's with me!

[TinainKent in reply to xxtwheatyxx]

If you really want to change legislation then you need to

involve a lobbying group such as the Consumers Association

who publish Which magazine. I suggest you contact them

with your story. You can write , phone or e-mail them.

which.co.uk

[xxtwheatyxx in reply to TinainKent]

thanku i will try!

[Hidden]

I think it would be a good idea if there was a file on GFG to save these emails to companies and their reply, for future reference so thank's for sharing this with us Rachel. And well done for going to the effort.

[xxtwheatyxx]

well i wrote again saying basically that unfortunately i didn't have the code but i did ask her what her view is on the ingredients in their product(s) are that are/possibly derived from wheat/gluten, she replied with this

Hi Rachel

I have spoken with the bakery again. They carry out routine product and raw material assessments to analyse for the presence of gluten and have never received a report back above the permitted 20ppm legislative level. The only ingredient which is derived from wheat in this product is glucose syrup which is exempt from gluten labeling. Please see the undernoted link, which explains that there are some cereal based ingredients which, due to the methods in which they are processed, are considered gluten free.

coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-...

It is unfortunate that you don’t have the traceability code so they can trace the exact batch but they will test some random batches and if any issues are found, we will let you know.

[meanioni in reply to xxtwheatyxx]

Well,they may be gluten free according to legislation, but not necessarily gluten free in practice... as the Coeliac Society's/Food Standard Agency's definition of gluten free is no more than 20ppm to which some coeliacs will still have a reaction.

"The only ingredient derived from wheat" comment could also be a bit disingenuous as the ingredients could be derived from other gluten-containing substances.

[wheatiefree in reply to xxtwheatyxx]

so glad i found this post. after reading that reply it makes me mad that they can still label it wheat free. no wonder i had to take today of work. i cant have any form of wheat whatsoever. thank you for this

[Jacks]

Whilst Coeliac UK do all the deciding of what is "safe for coeliacs" then manufacturers will continue to assume that these wheat-based additives are okay. . You don't have to look very hard to find evidence to the contrary - and I don't just mean on here.

[Hidden]

Very astute comment Jacks!

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Wheaty well done for pursuing this. By now you've know doubt read the threads and comments and realise that a company can only label it's products gluten free if they are 20ppm and lower. So if a lot of coeliacs are having reactions to products it may well be from cross contamination within factories. Let us know what reply you get about the random batch testing they conduct.