Tuesday, December 1, 2009

When Just Spotting The GF label Is Not Enough.


Nope. It isn't enough to simply check the ingredients either. It went down when I moved my car as I usually do 2 x week because I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, notorious for the awful street parking and mom's with luxury strollers. I scored a great spot, but of course that brought me into a new cross section in town sparking a new mood for me as I strolled down 7 Avenue of the Slope. Noticed I was nearby one of my favorite health food groceries, Back To The Land. So I walked in confidently shrugging off that I would spend the usual 2-3 x more than I was planning on considering all I was supposed to do tonight was park my car and go home. After perusing the new gluten free cereals I walked through the middle of the store and saw the refrigerated section and in my peripheral vision I saw the label "gluten free" shouting at me.

 Sometimes I can spot that needle in the haystack. I have a 6th sense radar for the label. I'm talented. Anyway, I was totally stoked for some Sesame Tofu considering I love Sesame seeds and enjoy a nice block of Tofu or two as well and dig the fact it was all mixed up. I read the label thoroughly which was a product from THE V SPOT. The label "GLUTEN FREE" was prominent along with Dairy Free and Vegan stamp approvals. Of course I checked the ingredients because I like to know what's in the food I eat and then noticed the food itself in more detail. Luckily it was a see through clear plastic box and saw all of these lovely quinoa hairs poking and speaking to me. I was soo excited because it's one of my favorite tasting grains that's high in protein. But I realized that the quinoa was not listed on the ingredient list! Wow! This wasn't' good and I thought I should check with the employees to be sure I wasnt' seeing things. Employees confirmed that the label wasn't matching the product and we chatted about this predicament. I was extremely disappointed, upset and actually shocked by the mislabeling here. Celiacs need to trust what the labels! Gluten Free labels are not a joke.


What should I do, I thought? Well I picked up the product found the number to the V Spot and called them up. Surprisingly no one answered so I left a detail messaged about my encounter hoping they would act fast and pull it from the shelves immediately. I definitely cannot trust an incorrect label because the product itself could be wrong as well! The moral here is that you cannot assume anything is Gluten Free when given such doubt. Humans make mistakes so you must analyze your product carefully, like I did, whether you are a Celiac or shopping for someone. Don't hesitate to call the company and inquire about their product and like I did call to tell them about the mistake that they made so they fix it right away so other Celiacs don't get sick. Don't ever take the risk. Walk away and find something else safer to enjoy.

2 comments:

  1. So was it gluten-free or not? Don't leave us hanging!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some companies don't like bad press, classic hollywood press conference story. They never called or wrote me back and that is when you know to be smart and go support somewhere else.

    ReplyDelete