Why on earth am I writing about home testing for gluten? Well, it is because there is a very reputable company out there, right at our fingertips that has tests we can do in our very own home or in restaurants when we eat out! Below is a chart of countries and distributors, many of whom have online stores!!! Also, read what I discovered about some very “well shopped at” and popular eating places below.

If you are severely gluten sensitive, celiac or just curious to help out someone you love, this is the read for you my friend. It is a very dear subject to me as gluten and I are not the best of friends, and this is the very reason I eventually went to the 100% grain-free, paleo diet and lifestyle.

GlutenTox Home kits test for gluten, which is in wheat, barley, rye, and even oats. All of these are my worst nightmares unless I want to live for 3 days (at least) on the potty, drop my muscle tone and 5 pounds in a matter of days, and look like hell. No thank you – hand me the test kit… 🙂

The company GlutenTox Home sells a 10-pack sample in-home kit you can use on a number of ingredients and has an invaluable customer service too. That is always a plus in my eyes! GlutenTox Home is a quick, user-friendly test to detect gluten in foods, drinks, cosmetics, or any other substance. It’s useful for anyone who suffers from celiac disease or keeps a gluten-free diet for any reason.

Here are some very good bullet points:

• Adjustable sensitivity: test for 20ppm or 5ppm of gluten depending on your specific needs
• No special equipment required; everything but the material you are testing is included in the kit
• Safe, non-toxic, and easy to use
• Quick response: a reliable answer in less than 20 minutes
• The included G12 antibody recognizes the toxic fraction of gluten in wheat, barley, rye, and even oat.
• Kit contains everything you need to run two, five or ten tests (depending on which kit you purchase) for gluten in foods, drinks or cosmetics. Orders will be shipped within 2 business days of your order via UPS Ground.
• If expedited service is required, you can contact them.
• If shipping to a Canadian address is needed, go to glutentox.net.

I also love that companies can use the commercial test kits to batch test their products if there is any question. It will not give them certification but they can at least share the findings. To get certification is ideal, yet very costly for a startup company.*

I have got some real live and revealing information for you that may make your life easier, and may answer some questions for your family or friends.

OK, one day my daughter and I were testing out a company that was considering supplying recipes to a top-notch, big-wig cake company in Los Angeles (name withheld). They were sure to be doing everything correct to ensure their cakes were gluten-free all the way, meaning no cross-contamination. So, we got our samples to test and she and I ran home with excitement to eat these beauuuutiful cakes up. We decided to test them out before eating them all up “just in case.” These cakes were so darn gorgeous!

I have to be honest and tell you we both started nibbling away once we got in the car. I know, sick, right?! The smell was sugar heaven and I am one who used to smell sugar and act like a semi-addict. Thank God those days are over, or at least mostly… 🙂

Well, long story short, we both got pretty ill and we did not continue to eat the cakes as something was just off pretty quick for us both physically, and we looked at one another and knew. This increased our curiosity even more. So, the simple GlutenTox Home testing began with all our senses ready in anticipation and our tummies hurting and my joints already starting to flare up.

We were indeed right! We had been glutened by this very “safe” cake company. Even more news to us was that there was a hell of a lot of gluten in many foods we never knew or thought to be so high. Yes, we became the testing queens for about a week.

I love the store Whole Foods and my daughter worked there in the bakery doing her magic… 🙂 (a plug for Miranda!) Whole Foods does not claim to be gluten-free at all in their open food section and in the hot and service area. Yet, my favorite soup they have there has no gluten added, is full of fresh seafood (just broth) and it came in as one of the highest in gluten ppm (parts per million) of foods we tested besides a piece of whole wheat bread. Shocking!

So, with just that alone I am truly convinced we need to ALWAYS and CONTINUOUSLY take our health in our own hands. We need to be alert to what truly is a safe area for food preparation and storage in our own homes, what we buy, where we buy it and from where it may be made.

GlutenTox Home kits are a godsend for those who truly need it, who are curious or who care about a loved one, not to mention for restaurants! I decided to ask a few questions to Emily Kaufman who runs the USA market for distribution and this is what she had to share. (Pretty interesting stuff, folks!)

Hope this was helpful and if you are curious about any “questionable” foods in your home, look into these kits.

Please enjoy and as always, email me or better yet Emily with any of your questions:

Why or how does a family benefit from home testing?

Home testing isn’t for every day, but it can be very empowering in certain situations. The two most common scenarios where people find GlutenTox Home helpful are:

– identifying the source of a glutening (when you know something is making you sick and you just aren’t sure what it is!)

– verifying questionable foods to avoid a glutening (spice mixes, foods made abroad, foods not explicitly labeled as gluten-free)

We also do work with a lot of families that have a science fair coming up. GlutenTox Home can be a great way for kids to learn about cross-contamination, and share information about gluten with their classmates.

How does the test work, Emily? They are pretty amazing to watch before my very eyes!

Inside the GlutenTox test strip there is an antibody called G12, which is really the foundation of the test. The G12 antibody was developed to react to the most toxic part of the overall gluten molecule, the 33mer peptide. When the antibody comes in contact with this peptide, it triggers a reaction in the test strip that causes a pink line to show up.

Why would one buy your GlutenTox kits specifically?

Although there are other kits on the market for home users, only GlutenTox Home incorporates the G12 antibody. Scientists developed this antibody after a landmark study published in Science discovered that the 33mer peptide was the single most immunotoxic peptide in gluten, which is itself an incredibly complicated, tangled molecule (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12351792). Many parts of the gluten molecule are actually relatively harmless, and it’s just these few small fragments that are responsible for most of the damage.

What this means for us as test users is that a positive result with GlutenTox is incredibly closely tied to a food that has a good chance of making someone with celiac disease sick. The G12 antibody is looking for exactly that part of the grain that will trigger a person’s immune system.

On a less scientific note, people enjoy how easy GlutenTox is to use, and they also enjoy being able to choose whether they run a test to 5ppm or to 20ppm.

I know I shared that it is an easy kit but from your years of experience and feedback, how simple is the test kit to do?

We see children as young as second grade using the tests for science fairs (with adult supervision, of course!), and no individual step is tricky or requires any scientific knowledge. There are multiple steps though, and it can take 15-20 minutes from the start of the test to get results. Because of this we don’t recommend people bring their GlutenTox test kits to a restaurant — too many distractions!

How long can someone store GlutenTox on their shelves?

We never sell kits with less than 6 months shelf life, and often they have much longer. The kits can be stored at room temperature and the expiration date is printed on each individual test strip. Plus, the test strips have a built-in control: a blue line will show up when the test is run, and that line is reassurance that everything is working.

Why does Emport LLC distribute GlutenTox?

I started Emport LLC after discovering GlutenTox Home had been launched in Europe. At the time GlutenTox launched I was doing some gluten-free blogging and I was sure that readers in North America would want to know about the product. When the manufacturer told me the kit was so new that they did not have anyone selling it in the states yet, I jumped at the chance. Since then we’ve expanded the GlutenTox line to include kits for professional use, for food manufacturing and commercial kitchens, and we’re also starting to promote a line of detection kits for other allergens (although it won’t be aimed at the home market).

OK Emily, tell us, where can people in other countries can go to find GlutenTox?

Below is a chart of countries and distributors, many of whom have online stores. Biomedal frequently adds new distributors, so if a particular country is not on the list the best thing to do is contact them at international@biomedal.com.

GlutenTox  Home	DISTRIBUTORS
Country	Name	webpage
USA	Emport	www.glutentox.com
Canada	Emport / Kettle Lake	www.glutentox.net
Spain	Biomedal	http://foodsafety.biomedal.com/products/by-brand/glutentox-home/
Belgium	Glufree	www.glutentox.be
Holland	Glufree	www.glutentox.nl
Hong Kong and Asia	Urban Health Hong Kong	www.urbanhealth.hk
Australia	Key Diagnostics	http://keydiagnostics.com.au/
New Zealand	Ngaio Diagnostics	www.ngaio.co.nz
Italy	JMC Dietetici	http://www.jmcdietetici.it/ordina/test-rilevazione-glutine.html
UK	BHR pharmaceutical	http://www.bhr.co.uk/
Croatia	Aktarski izračuni d.o.o.	www.glutentox.com.hr
Chile	Rilab	http://www.rilab.cl/glutentox-home-biomedal-i-028/
Mexico	Metodos Rapidos	http://www.metodosrapidos.com/
Japan	Funakoshi	http://www.funakoshi.co.jp/
Slovakia	Euro Lambda	http://eurolambda.sk/uvod-produkty
Other countries	Biomedal	http://glutentoxhome.com/

Emily Kaufman
Emport, LLC
More safe food, more happy people
Quality control and allergen test kits
866.509.4482 • 718.717.2353
emilyk@emportllc.com
emportllc.com • glutentox.com

 

 

 

*NOTE: The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 requires manufacturers to disclose on food labels the presence of eight major allergens (including wheat). Those disclosures began in 2006. The law also requires the FDA to establish rules for gluten-free labeling.

The agency issued proposed rules in 2007 that defined “gluten-free” as containing less than 20ppm.

The labels will be voluntary, not mandatory — manufacturers that wish to cater to gluten-free consumers could add the labels to their packaging, but they wouldn’t be required to do so. The labels won’t eliminate the need for us to learn to identify gluten on food labels, either, since the FDA’s rules won’t require manufacturers to disclose gluten-containing ingredients.

However, if you’re particularly sensitive to trace amounts of gluten, remember that the FDA’s definition still allows tiny amounts of gluten in gluten-free foods, and it’s still possible to get gluten symptoms from labeled gluten-free foods.

References:

1. gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/Allergens/ucm362880.htm
2. com/story/news/nation/2014/08/05/gluten-free-labeling-rules-take-effect/13618741/
3. gf-cert.org

From my kitchen to yours,

Tina Turbin

If you have any questions or suggestions just email me at Tina (at) Paleomazing.com.