A Gluten Free Grumble, Terry’s Chocolate Orange

6 Nov

Well it may be because I’ve had a terrible few days, or it may be because I’ve been fobbed off one time too many, but I think it’s time for my first Gluten Free by the Sea moan.  I always try to keep a positive spin on blog posts on here, so forgive me for having this grumble.  With Christmas looming on the horizon, it’s that time of year when coeliacs and those with wheat or gluten intolerance start to think about those goodies we can, or indeed can’t, have over the festive period.

I was recently chatting to Sarah Carter of the Wuthering Bites blog about how one of my all time favourites, the Terry’s Chocolate Orange, is out of bounds as it “may contain wheat”.  These beauties will soon be stacked high in the supermarkets, and I will look forlornly at them as I pass them by.  No doubt I will tease myself and even read the label, just in case they’ve made them gluten free.  So I decided I would email Terry’s to see if any of their products are safe, or if they are looking into making them safe.  It seems Terry’s don’t even have a website (really?!), but all roads led back to Kraft Foods.  I filled in a contact form, stating my issue and asking for a contact at Terry’s.  This was the reply:

Dear Kevin Gollop

Kind regards,

Blank email, not the best of starts so I replied informing them of this.  The second reply was not much better:

Thank you for contacting us. The recipe for Terry’s Chocolate Orange does not contain wheat. There is however a small risk of contamination as wheat is an ingredient used in other products made in the location. Please refer to the packaging to confirm. I hope this fully answers your question.

OK, so if they’re not going to pass me on to someone at Terry’s as I requested then I’m going to fire some questions back at them:

Thank you for your reply.  As I am a sufferer of coeliac disease I can assure you that I am avid reader of labels.
May I please ask some follow up questions:
1. Does the wheat cross contamination risk extend to all Terry’s Chocolate Orange varieties including bars and segments etc?  If not, which ones are OK?
2. What can the gluten free community do to encourage Kraft to make the Chocolate Orange range safe for people with gluten and wheat intolerance?  Many more companies are now providing gluten free options, such as Prezzo: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/27/09/2012/345503/Prezzo-launches-gluten-free-pizza.htm You will notice from that article that there are up to 9 million people who are gluten sensitive in the UK.  That seems like a huge chunk of potential sales that you are missing out on. 
3. Are Kraft actively doing anything to address this issue?
It took me five days to get my email through as the main UK Customer Services mailbox was evidently full and needed some housekeeping.  I thought my follow up questions were worth asking so I persisted.  You will notice in question 2 I point out how much money they are potentially missing out on, by this point I’d obviously realised that customer care was not high on the agenda so took a different angle of attack.  So today I got another response:
Thank you for your email. Any product that is at risk of containing wheat will be labelled accordingly. Please read the label before any purchase as products may change, however up to date packaging will inform you of those changes. Though Terry’s may be considering a change to further accommodate gluten intolerant or sensitive consumers, we currently have no information available for distribution. However your comments and suggestions have been passed on to the manufacturer.
Call me cynical, but I have the feeling my comments may have been consigned to the bin.  I am not expecting them to drop everything and make their products gluten free on the back of my correspondence, and I have no issue with them telling me to read the label to caveat some useful information.  But come on give me something here.  “Customer care”, I’m not sure that’s what I’d describe it as.  I’ve had a similar experience with Cadbury’s recently after emailing them to find out the situation with Wispa’s (it was noticed the “main contain wheat” warning had been dropped from some packets.  Again a similar response:
Like a number of other food companies we have chosen to separately list all the allergens which may appear in the product in one clearly identifiable yellow box on the back of the wrapper. This is where you will look if you suffer from a specific allergy, such as nuts, wheat, milk, soya or any of the many ingredients which can cause a reaction.  As the web site is updated on a regular basis, the yellow box on our packaging is the most definitive allergen status of our products.  The Anaphylaxis Campaign are in favour of our labelling and consider it Best Practice.
Again all well and good but completely ignoring the question.  They did not have the decency to even reply to my follow up questions, though I do give Cadbury’s credit for their clear allergy labelling if not their controls over wheat in their factories.  I also contacted Mars a few months back as I had eaten a few Snickers and had heard they were made on lines handling gluten.  I merely received the standard wording from their website in reply:

Our policy on allergen labelling is to be clear, within the ingredients list, where a product contains allergenic ingredients as part of the recipe or in trace amounts.  Please visit our nutritional website which provides a full list of ingredients for our products. The information is updated regularly and is for guidance only. For definitive advice, we always recommend that you read the label.  If you have any concerns regarding allergens or intolerances please do not hesitate to contact our Consumer Care team.

Brilliant that they do not provide a link to their nutritional website in this statement, and when I found it the same text is carried and the Customer Care Team were unable to tell me more.  It seems Mars do not even use the “may contain” warnings even when there is a possibility of cross contamination, and none of their products are listed in the Coeliac UK directory.  I now avoid all Mars products completely.  At least with Cadbury’s you can find some things that are safe.

I am just getting a bit sick of big companies just fobbing me off when I make enquiries over their products.  As a coeliac I spend my life reading labels, and if I email it’s because I have a genuine enquiry that the label is not telling me.  These companies really should know what’s in their food and make the information clearly and easily available via the internet.  In this day and age it is surely not too much to ask.  I should give credit to Tetley and Seabrook’s who have at least given me good customer service when I have contacted them.  I can only suggest as many of you as possible contact companies to show them there is a demand for safe gluten free food.  I would also love to hear about your good and bad customer service experiences, please comment below if you have any.

OK so even after a rant I have to try and end with something positive, so hear are a couple of gluten free orange chocolate suggestions thank to Emma Hutchinson (though sadly not orange shapped!):

Organic Orange Chocolate from Plamil
Essential Orange Chocolate from Concious
Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Gluten Free Hidden Treasure

24 Oct

Whilst at the supermarket, I’m sure we’ve all spent far too many hours perusing the Free From section.  When we wander outside of our comfort zone into what I refer to as “the normal person aisles”, we must then spend our time reading ingredients lists in tiny tiny type.  Sometimes we’re even lucky enough to have an allergy advice box to assist us with our label checking.  Every once in a while though you strike gold, an item in the “normal person” aisle with the words “gluten free” on the packaging.  An item good enough that it is fit for consumption by regular folk, yet the manufacturers have been kind enough to label the item gluten free for us poor old gluten intolerants.  This is something that I refer to as gluten free hidden treasure.

So here are the hidden treasures that I’ve found over the past year:

Sakata crackers: You may hear the words “rice cracker” and have the instinct to run a mile.  However I cannot recommend these Japanese beauties highly enough.  These little crackers are packed with flavour and I particularly love the BBQ version (be aware this is made with gluten removed soy sauce so may not be suitable for those with wheat allergies).  Great for dipping too, and the classic cheddar flavour with some salsa is a great combination.  They’re even 97% fat free, but be warned they are addictive and I have demolished an entire pack on more than one occasion!  You’ll find these lurking in the cracker aisle next to the Jacobs and Ritz, somewhere you’d never normally look!

Pom Bear crisps: These crisps have achieved somewhat of a cult status amongst the gluten free community.  Found in the regular crisp section, these crisps are delicious.  Prawn cocktail, cheese & onion, salt & vinegar, bacon and the Halloween special pickled onion flavours  are all well worth a try.  In fact one of the advantages to being coeliac is being able to eat these teddy bear shaped snacks without anyone being able t0 mock you.  These are medicinal, and not for kids 😉

Burts crisps:  Crisps hand fried locally in Devon, these crisps are delicious and all flavours are labelled gluten free.  Burts also produce the Nandos crisp range, which are also labelled GF.  Plenty of choice in flavours too and even the new Guinness flavour is gluten free.

Heinz baked beans:  The good old classic Heinz baked beans are also labelled gluten free.  I’m sure most of you know this one, but it’s worth noting that some of the cheaper brands do contain gluten.  They’re even one of your five a day!

Birdseye potato waffles:  Beans on toast doesn’t taste the same with gluten free bread?  Don’t worry, pour your Heinz baked beans over some potato waffles instead and it tastes even better.  They’re waffley versatile too.  Some of the cheaper brands do use wheatflour in the coating so it’s great that Birdseye label their waffles gluten free.

McCain rustic oven chips:  When first diagnosed I spent a considerable amount of time reading labels trying to find oven chips that didn’t use wheatflour to crisp the coating.  I discovered these chips from McCain were not only labelled gluten free, but contain only 3% fat.  The ingredients are simply potato and sunflower oil.  I like the fact that the skins are left on too.

Almondy Toblerone dessert:  This cheeky little number can be found lurking in the regular dessert section at Tesco.  A cake like base, with a mousse topping that reminds me of a Milky Way, covered in chocolate and chopped almonds.  Really delicious and well worth a try if you are looking for a quick and easy dessert.

Amoy noodles: Amongst the Amoy range of noodles, there are a couple of varieties of rice noodle that are very clearly labelled gluten free.  They are straight to wok so perfect for stir fries, and it’s really nice to have a change from rice.  I’d recommend the ribbon variety if you can get them, as they are a bit more substantial than the thinner variety rice noodles.  Other varieties contain gluten so make sure you pick up the correct ones.

Options hot chocolate:  Well with winter approaching it’s nearly time to start enjoying a nice hot chocolate in the evening.  Finding a gluten free hot chocolate can be tricky however, but luckily the Options range use gluten free labelling.  I’ve tried the Belgian Hot Chocolate variety and it’s very nice, I’m not 100% sure if the other flavours are labelled gluten free so as always check the packaging (their packaging is far more helpful than their website I have to say). EDIT: I’ve checked the packs in Sainsbury’s today and all flavours I could find were labelled GF, including mint choc, orange choc and white choc.

Discovery Mexican:  I’ve mentioned this range in previous posts, but many of the Discovery products are labelled gluten free.  This includes the taco trays, most of the spice mixes and even the crumb coating.  Not all of the range is gluten free though, and sadly the tortillas contain wheat.

Packaging is subject to change as we have seen recently with Seabrook’s, so always make sure you read the label.  So what are your gluten free hidden treasures?  Please comment below and let everyone know!

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Gluten Free Mexican Food and Abby’s Refried Beans

21 Oct

My wife Abby is from America, where Mexican food is as common as the good old chippy in England.  So since we met 10 years ago Mexican food has been a regular feature in the Gollop household.  Fortunately Mexican food is easy to make gluten free, thanks largely to Discovery Foods great range of products – many of which are labelled gluten free.  We frequently use the taco trays to make quick and easy tacos.  Stir fry some onion and peppers with some mince or chicken with one of the spice mixes, serve with some grated cheese and salsa and you have a tasty meal in minutes.

Slightly trickier to find are gluten free tortilla wraps.  There are solutions though.  My first taste of gluten free tortilla wraps was the Lovemore version from Asda.  Quite possibly the worst gluten free product I have tried, like eating old leather boots and not something I would recommend!  Hope was restored though when we successfully tried this recipe from The Gluten Free Student Cookbook.  One of the most popular GF wraps amongst the gluten free community are the corn wraps from Mexgrcoer, and these are really nice (though only 6 inch diameter).  I’ve also had success with the Cool Chile Co wraps that are available in Whole Foods.  Another option is the easy mix available from the Foodamentalists, which is also available at Plymouth Greengrocer for Plymouth based readers.

Whether it be tacos, fajitas or quesadillas, no gluten free Mexican meal in our household is complete without Abby’s Mexican bean recipe.  These can also be re-heated in a microwave and can be perfect for parties to dip your tortilla chips in.  Based on classic Mexican refried beans, this recipe has evolved over time to use black beans instead of pinto beans.  They are much more readily available in tinned form, which makes this a simple recipe.  We have tried in the past with dried black and pinto beans and have never really had much success.  The caramelised red onion, garlic, white wine vinegar and lime juice infuse to give these beans an extraordinary flavour.  We usually serve as a side dish, but a friend we passed the recipe onto made them and just served with rice and really enjoyed it.

Abby’s Mexican Refried Beans

1 red onion. chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tins of black beans, drained

250 ml (ish) passata

Lime juice of one lime (we use bottled lime juice)

Fry the red onion and garlic in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil.  Next add the vinegar and brown sugar and cook until the onions are caramelised.

Stir in the black beans, passata, lime juice and add some salt and pepper to season. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened, or longer depending how mushy you like your beans.

Hope you enjoy and we’d love to hear from you if you try these.

Edit: For this of you asking where to buy soaked black beans, these are the ones we use which are from Sainsbury’s:

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