Two Scary Stories About People Saying Something is Gluten Free

A while back, I had reviewed Wellsire Farms Gluten Free Chicken Bites.  An anonymous reader posted a comment that links to an article by the Chicago Tribune about those chicken nuggets containing gluten.  I want to thank that reader for bringing this article to my attention.

Unfortunately, I also have an additional scary story to add.  I was looking at doing a nice write up on the Whole Foods Market because they had started putting green Gluten Free tags on certain products.  It was making shopping more convenient.

When I started putting information together for the article, I found Newman's Own Ranch Dressing and their 365 Tomato Basil Sauce marked with these Gluten Free tags.  Now neither of these products marked their packaging with gluten free, so I asked the store how they choose which products get the tags.  Their answer was they check the ingredient lists.  

That answer does not sit well with me. 

Though I have not contacted Newman's Own directly, I have noticed their website does not contain any allergen information, and they have only certified that the ranch dressing is Kosher.  The bottle has no information about the manufacturing process, so it's not known if the same equipment processes wheat or barley.  

Now Newman's Own Products have done nothing wrong.  But if I were working for Whole Foods Market, I would have contacted them and gotten the manufacturing information before I claimed the product was Gluten Free.