Wellshire Farms Responds to Chicago Tribune Article

Here is the official response from Wellshire Farms regarding the Chicago Tribune article which found their products (which are advertised as gluten free) aren’t actually gluten free.

December 1, 2008

Wellshire would like to take the time to recognize our customers who have given us feedback with respect to our “gluten free” products. Wellshire accepts total accountability and responsibility for our actions, and we are constantly evolving to meet the needs and concerns for our customers.

Throughout our existence, Wellshire has always been bound to comply with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) rules and regulations. In 2001, Wellshire Farms was the first company to be granted USDA approval for a fully cooked chicken nugget that could be labeled “gluten free.” We developed a special corn batter for the nugget after listening to the needs and concerns of our customers. The USDA approved our label on this product as “gluten free” because it complied with the USDA regulations regarding “gluten free” in that our product did not contain wheat, barley, or rye. As a company we have always followed USDA guidelines. Further, at that time we also adhered to the only other standard of which we were aware concerning “gluten free” as applied to any type of food, which was the European Union (EU) ruling for “gluten free” products to be under 200 parts per million (PPM) of gluten in the total weight of the product. We did this even though the EU rules did not apply to our products.

In June 2008, as a response to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considering a stricter new proposal to define “gluten free” as 20 PPM of gluten in the product in order to be defined as “gluten free” on the label, Wellshire began the search to find a batter for our nuggets that would also comply with this new criteria for “gluten free” if this proposal were to be accepted by the FDA, even though this FDA standard would not legally apply to our product, since the USDA has exclusive jurisdiction over the approval of our products.

Please note that we strive very hard to avoid any cross contamination in our plants of trace gluten. However, the traces of gluten that can potentially appear in a product that tries to be “gluten free” derives from the source of the grain. When the wheat, barley or rye is harvested, it goes through a combine, and is transported on a truck and then onto a conveyor. In this process wheat, barley, or rye can travel through the air or fall off the grain in the form of dust. This dust can travel onto an existing cornfield or onto the same machinery that is used to transport and process the corn that the corn flour processor uses. Unfortunately, we cannot control all sources of potential cross contamination, however we test our product at the plant to make sure it complies with the current standards regarding PPM of gluten.

Right now we are sourcing a new batter company to help us produce a final product that will come as close as we can to the proposal that is under consideration by the FDA, that is no more than 20 PPM of gluten in the total weight of the product to be labeled “gluten free.” However, as this new future proposal confirms, we cannot eliminate all gluten from a product, however if we continue to work hard enough at it we can bring the trace levels down.

We encourage you to refer to this link to access more information on these new proposals and how it affects the gluten free industry. In spite of the difficulty, we will continue to be committed to the task of producing a “gluten free” product that meets all of the required criteria to better serve the gluten free community. We expect to announce our next step in this effort in the very near future.

Respectfully,

The Wellshire Family of All Natural Products