Gluten-sensitive.com

No Name Beef recall

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:36:32 -0400

No Name Beef is a Minnesota based seasoned frozen burger meat brand. I’ve tried their product a number of times while living in Minneapolis last year. Last week they recalled 456 lbs of meat because it turns out the seasoning contains wheat proteins. This is the unfortunate situation where a company makes a mistake, conceals allergens, and yes, someone with Celiac’s and extreme sensitivity can get sick. I’ve never had a problem with eating their product, personally, but understand that accidentally concealing allergen information can be dangerous.

On the other hand, the case that people are trying to make against Domino’s pizza, that it’s misleading and someone may get sick is, as usual, the authors of blogs, etc, turn the “hypothetical victim” into a bobble head that is nowhere near their intelligence level. Like someone with extreme sensitivity to gluten is going to randomly “eat outside their box”. People that are extremely sensitive to gluten have set rigid, set eating habits. So, what, now that Domino’s has gluten-free pizza, suddenly the walls come down and they get “pizza drunk”, pick up the phone, order a gluten-free pizza and dive into it without noticing:

THEIR DISCLAIMERS EVERYWHERE?

I’m confused.

Glacier Rocks are gluten-free! Glacier Rocks are crafted in...

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:46:17 -0400

Glacier Rocks are gluten-free! Glacier Rocks are crafted in Finland using top quality gluten-free soapstones. Unlike ice cubes which can be made from water mixed with, say, shredded WHEAT, glacier rocks are just ROCKS and free from gluten. Also, Glacier Rocks gently cool your gluten-free drink without diluting them. You can purchase a set of 6 or 9 rocks here. TrueFabrications.com is the maker of Glacier Rocks. You can follow them at @truefabrication

There are 50,000 Independent pizzerias in the US. Some...

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:54:14 -0400

There are 50,000 Independent pizzerias in the US. Some percentage of them buy frozen gluten-free crust and sell a “gluten-free” pizza. The places that I buy gluten-free pizza do. So, I ask the questions:

A) Why is it OK for an independent pizzeria to do exactly what Dominos is doing (and they’ve been doing this for years) but it’s not OK for Dominos? Profit is profit. An independent pizzeria owner sells gluten-free pizza because it makes him/her more money (by offering the customer more options).

B) Why is it OK for every major Burger Chain and independent diners to function with either a well written disclaimer or nothing at all (in the case of the average diner)?

The main point of the video is that how people access...

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:44:52 -0400

The main point of the video is that how people access information has changed. People like myself are the minority. And I’m OK with that. So, whereas I “stumbled” across Celiac’s Disease while reading Natural Cures by Kevin Trudeau, purchased on a Sunday, from his TV commercials, in an effort to “cure” my problems (therefore I didn’t even have knowledge of Celiac’s Disease or gluten-intolerance while purchasing the book), others will “stumble” across it while looking at some pic that Kim Kardashian or Miley Cyrus Tweets.

Get it? We all don’t live the same way. There are segments of the population that get most of their information from social media, friends, celebrities, etc.

Yesterday Domino’s pizza announced they will be offering a...

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:00 -0400

Yesterday Domino’s pizza announced they will be offering a gluten-free pizza. Of course there is a backlash from self-labeled Celiac awareness “advocates”. Instead of looking at things like this from a logical POV and saying “overnight” millions of more people will now be aware of Celiac’s Disease and gluten-intolerance they twist it into something negative. It’s the same thinking about celebrities.

Miley Cyrus is searched 11 million times per month on Google alone. Kim Kardashian is searched 5 million times per month (but has 3x as many followers on Twitter as Miley Cyrus). There’s a segment of the population that are greatly influenced by celebrities. This is beyond anyone’s control. If a few thousand or tens of thousand get tested for Celiac’s Disease as a result of celebrities Tweeting about their bodies due to a gluten-free diet, then they’ve done their part and helped a lot of people. Would I love to see millions of people reading through rich sources of information instead of relying on celebrities? Sure. But that’s just not reality.

Burger King. Dairy Queen. Carl’s Jr. On and on all use the same exact language on their gluten-sensitive menu pages. Example, Burger King. Here’s the common sentence: “This list is not intended for people with severe gluten intolerance”. Therefore, you have to assume that the population of people with severe gluten intolerance is “quantifiable” and in some proportion to the population of people spending billions on gluten-free food. Out of the 100,000 or so people diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease and gluten-intolerance, what’s is the percentage with extreme sensitivity?

Twitterer @GFMoonDance's words

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:18:00 -0400

This is more like a public note to self because it’s rare to come across someone else expressing my exact thoughts. So, I’m “sticking” this copy and paste from @GFMoonDance ‘s post on Facebook. Here’s the link, but here’s what she wrote:

“There was a piece on gluten free foods on ABC tonight. Not much depth and the usual comment (this time from a professor at Columbia) saying that a gluten free diet can be unhealthy because it lacks fiber and vitamin B.

For vitamin B how about turkey, tuna, beans and bananas or any of hundreds of other natural sources? For fiber how about beans, berries, corn and broccoli to get the ball rolling?

Any diet requires some thought and my guess is that most people understand this. If you go gluten free because Miley Cyrus did that’s probably not such a good idea but if a gluten free makes you feel better, you’re not flirting with dietary disaster!”

Most gluten-free press releases lack depth. Domino’s Pizza’s online PR today is some of the best ever. Very well researched, mentions the 18 million people with gluten-sensitivities, and a CEO making a video is the strongest statement that a company can make in today’s world.

Big media like ABC & CBS get strong-armed by bodies of government and are essentially forced to make annoying negative comments about living gluten-free. Very unfortunately, due to the strength of their websites in the search engines, anything they post sits dead center on the first page of Google and other search engines for days.

Domino’s now gluten-free!

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:34:15 -0400

Domino’s now gluten-free!

Do I see a difecta? Is that a QR code peaking out? Yep. mobile...

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:41:30 -0400

Do I see a difecta? Is that a QR code peaking out? Yep. mobile technology & gluten-free! New Michelob light cider hits shelves today!

Tonight is a supermoon. Try some black vodka from Eristoff...

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:58:40 -0400

Tonight is a supermoon. Try some black vodka from Eristoff .“The Eristoff logo - a wolf howling at a crescent moon - represents the Persian name for Georgia, Virshan, meaning “land of the wolf”. Today, Georgia is still home to the grey wolf, which for hundreds of years has been a part of Georgian culture and folklore.”

The gluten-free toaster by @Jessifreakinlyn

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:52:09 -0400

@jessifreaknlyn is one of buddies on Twitter. This is soooo classic!! that I have to Tumble it up!

just sayin': Kim Kardashian has krazy reach of Twitter

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:34:00 -0400

But in my opinion Erin Sharoni is HOTTER! Here’s Erin with a gluten-free black and white cookie.

Kim Kardashian "Gluten free is the way to be....OH Hiiiiiiiiiiii"

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:25:00 -0400

Check this article on the Wall Street Journal about Fennel...

Sat, 05 May 2012 15:41:37 -0400

Check this article on the Wall Street Journal about Fennel Pollen. It’s a seasoning, but also has digestive benefits so it great for people with gluten-sensitivities. PollenRanch.com & #fennelfriday!

Burger King as an example

Sat, 05 May 2012 15:18:56 -0400

Just to outline how I arrive at the figure “$50m”, here goes:

Burger King has around 8,000 US locations. Out of those 8,000,
90 percent are independently owned. That in itself makes it much
more complicated for a Burger King (on a national level) to be
able to say to consumers “we have a 100% gluten-free menu,
guaranteed to be free of cross-contamination”.

You have to think in terms “24/7” even if the store isn’t open 24/7.
At any hour of the day there’s always someone doing something
that relates to keeping these 8,000 locations operating. It can be
cleanup, supply chain, etc.

Let’s make this really simple. From supply chain to table, let’s say
the cost is $10 per day, per location. That’s $29,200,000 per year.
Keep in mind, that’s very conservative. That means they need to
recoup that money somehow “win lose or draw” before laying it out.
They can’t just “speculate” and draw money from an “imaginary gluten
free slush fund”. In accounting, this just doesn’t exist.

Last but not least….”underwriting”. Insurance premiums going up
for 8,000 locations even a tick is a lot. Once they green light a 100%
gluten-free guarantee…welcome to lawsuit hell. For sure their
underwriters will increase their premiums to cover payouts.

I try to stay grounded and realistic. Granted, the...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:38:00 -0400

I try to stay grounded and realistic. Granted, the under-reporting of the gluten-free market is very frustrating, so I like when people like @healthychefm promote the accurate number of 20 million people with Celiac’s Disease + gluten-sensitivities. Whenever a brand or supermarket chain puts out a press release they copy and paste that same line about 3 million people with Celiac’s Disease, thus undervaluing the market.

An example of this is Stop & Shop’s recent announcement to add gluten-free tags to over 3,000 products in every store. This is a great step forward, but I feel that they need to just take a little more time and make sure to add the 17-18 million people with gluten-sensitivities to their press releases. There’s a huge domino effect where it just becomes acceptable to simply copy and paste that same one liner and “go to print”. Reporters do the same exact thing. Over and Over.

With all this said, the actual number of people diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease is around 100,000. From that figure, there’s a percentage of people like @inspiredrd that are annoyed by the fact that some restaurant staff don’t take their ordering a gluten-free dish seriously. Let’s shoot high and say that it’s 20%. 20% of the 100,000 people diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease feel the same way as @inspiredrd. So, for a company like Celiebo.com, that 20% would be the target market. If projections are right and 3 million have Celiac’s Disease, that would make the target market 600,000 people. So, 600,000 people that are:

A) So annoyed by the fact that restaurants may potential cross-contaminate their order that they’re willing present a card or their mobile phone screen to staff as a way to indicate they need to be taken “extra serious”.

Keep in mind. I’ve had conversations with large fast food chains on a pretty high corporate level (national directors of marketing) and know that from the inside out, the thinking is “if you feel that unsafe about eating our food, then don’t eat it.” It’s actually like a “loophole”, for example, that Burger King chooses to use “gluten-sensitive” on their menu and not gluten-free. They do this to deflect lawsuits (in my opinion). I like to add “in my opinion”, but draw your own conclusions.

Anyhow, the bottom line here is, yes, there’s a huge future for gluten-free, but when it comes down to “right now”, we should always think in terms of “what is” and what the appropriate measures are now. We can’t base everything on speculation and say “Burger King should spend $50 million now to ensure that from supply chain to table, everything is free of cross-contamination”. It’s just not realistic thinking.

Erin Swing, The Sensitive Epicure

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:25:17 -0400

I can’t take my eyes off of this blog by Erin Swing. She also has a really neat business background. Thesensitiveepicure.com is her business website. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure why her recipes grip me the way they do. They just seem to really unique and/or “organically” hatched.

I learn a lot by talking to my sister, someone who doesn’t...

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:52:00 -0400

I learn a lot by talking to my sister, someone who doesn’t live gluten-free. She shares my viewpoint about “freedom to eat whatever you want”. As someone that doesn’t live gluten-free it actually annoys her more that people feel they need a medical issue or excuse to eat gluten-free. We believe that people should “own their actions, own their decisions”.

You don’t need to seek approval to do something that is a personal decision (eating). Here’s a great argument that she came up with:

Why do skinny people drink diet soda? Isn’t diet soda for people that need to lose weight? The first diet soda commercials never featured fat people, they featured The Rockets and a bunch of rich people drinking diet soda. Huh? Yep. Here’s the first Diet Coke Commercial, 1983 on YouTube.com.

People like Novak Djokovic publicly state they live gluten-free because it makes them feel better/play better. There’s nothing wrong with doing something because in your mind you feel it makes you feel better. Own your decisions and tell people that are trying to impose on your free thinking to….

Rite-Aid’s magazine, Rite Health puts the question,...

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:55:20 -0400

Rite-Aid’s magazine, Rite Health puts the question, “Should you go gluten-free?” on the cover of the spring 2012 issue. Rite-Aid has actually added a dedicated gluten-free section to some stores. Here’s pic.

A Canadian bread company reports that sales are down due to more...

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:51:00 -0400

A Canadian bread company reports that sales are down due to more people eating gluten-free. I’m not posting video to say “go team gluten-free”, but just as a way to evidence (black and white) what’s going on in the business world of gluten-free food. Bread is a staple and monitoring it tells you a lot about what’s going on.

Here’s the full article on today’s Financial Post.

Let’s end copying and pasting, or at least just copy and...

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:01:00 -0400

Let’s end copying and pasting, or at least just copy and paste from better sources! hahaha. Here’s the message that I’m trying to get to ANYONE putting out a press release or any brand that makes a public statement relating to “gluten-free”. Moving forward, stop copying and pasting this message:

“the number of people who actually have a gluten-intolerant condition is comparatively small: about 1 in 133 Americans right now”.

That excerpt is from SandwichPro.com, but can be seen in a million online press releases. Sandwichpro.com is an informative industry website that is so well-run and visually pleasing that it can double as a consumer website. One of my favorites.

I’m hoping that they will add the information below to this article about gluten-free sandwiches.

Here’s the real scope of the market. This is from GlutenFreeRestaurants.org:

- Approximately 1 in 133 people have Celiac Disease.3 million plus require a gluten-free diet.

- 15 million estimated gluten-intolerent consumers. That number is conservative and can be backed up.

Here’s an article from the Wall Street Journal last year saying it’s closer to 17-18 million.

- 7 million consumers with wheat allergy.

- 8%-10% of the US lives by a gluten-free diet. You can read the complete overview on
Glutenfreerestaurants.org owned by GIG.

Here’s what Brinker says. Brinker owns restaurants like Chili’s and Maggiana’s.There’s no incentive for them to skew information.

Hopefully we’ll see a change soon in the way this market is reported.