The 'rise' of bread mixes

Pardon the pun but I just couldn't resist!

As you can imagine as a manufacturer we buy in our flours, nuts, seeds etc. from a couple of wholesalers.  I had to suppress a wry smile the other day when our sales representative from one of these companies was a bit put out that we didn't attend a 'gluten free' day at his premises.  The purpose of the day was to sell gluten free bread mixes to bakeries - the fact that we are specifically a gluten free bakery must have missed him.  He didn't quite get the point that we make everything from scratch and that we don't use mixes, but never mind.

Anyway that got me thinking about what follow-up is there re: these gluten free mixes?  If a wholesaler is marketing these mixes to 'normal' bakeries with a view to producing gluten free products, where's the education in making these products in a gluten free environment?  Do the bakeries concerned even know that they can't call the fruits of their labour gluten free without sending the products off to be tested for levels of gluten; or at least batch testing internally? 

I can only imagine the amount of flour that is flying around in a non-gluten free bakery.  We have traces of gluten free flour that cover every work surface literally minutes after cleaning as the flour is suspended in the air for long periods, especially really light flours like tapioca starch.  What must a 'normal' bakery be like?  And what about the bread tins that despite industrial cleaning still contain crumbs from years of use cooking bread products.

This is where the responsibility side has to kick in.  I hope that the company that produces these mixes provides at least basic gluten free training so that as many measures are in place to limit the contamination risk and that the purchasers of these loaves are made fully aware of the environment that they are produced in.

All in all I'm a little bit anxious about it.  Even if the bakeries used the correct terminology and stated that the bread was made with "no gluten containing ingredients", I personally would steer well clear, but I am extremely sensitive.  I really hope that those bakeries that buy the mixes are doing so with the best intentions and not jumping on the gluten free bandwagon.....

A little bit misleading ......

A few days ago there was an article published by The Daily Mail on the new European legislation in respect of providing foods with potential allergens. http://www.dailymail.co.uk  Fundamentally the law is changing in December this year and makes it an offence not to declare any one of the 14 allergens listed below in food products:

Celery, Cereals containing gluten, Crustaceans, Eggs, Fish, Lupin, Milk, Molluscs, Mustard, Peanuts, Sesame, Soy beans, Sulphur dioxide at levels above 10mg/kg, or 10 mg/litre, expressed as SO2, Tree nuts (such as walnut, hazelnut, almond, etc.).

As anti-European legislations go, the article is quite vociferous in its approach with its opening line on the legislation being…..

“Restaurants, cafés and schools are being forced by the EU to identify and list 14 potential allergens in their food.”

I love the word “forced” here!  Anyone would think that the experts from DEFRA (The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs) and the FSA (Food Standards Agency) haven’t had a say in this legislation, which has been drafted, re-drafted, consulted on and honed for the last few years.  It’s not the EU putting a stamp on us at all, it’s about the European Community at large agreeing on some food industry standards to protect the consumers (and the businesses) that operate in the Union.

The premise of the law is that any food item sold, or provided at functions etc., has to be labelled (whether verbal or written) if it contains one of the allergens and that allergen needs to be communicated to the consumer.  I am very surprised that a ‘renowned cook and TV Food expert’ would think this a bad thing.  Surely any cook of any worth at all would be totally up to speed with what ingredients go in the food they cook?  Have we learnt nothing from the recent horse meat scandal?

As it happens I disagree that the small businesses will suffer.  Small businesses that buy in a lot of pre-prepared food will be ok as all goods supplied by manufacturers have to be labelled accordingly under the legislation anyway, so approaching the suppliers is not an issue.  Those small businesses that cook from scratch using fresh ingredients will also be fine, as they will know all the ingredients that go into each dish.  Yes it’s a bit of work initially writing out all the ingredients and highlighting those allergens, but even dishes of the day are repeated again and again.  I‘m also not really quite sure how listing an ingredient will 'kill innovation'.  I can’t imagine making a decision on cooking a dish being dependent on whether I have to declare it contains celery or not.

I do take the point that massive fast food chains will have it easier as they have standard food items and whole departments dedicated to writing out menus and ingredients lists.  They still also have to go through the process of raw ingredient traceability and ingredients listing and changing all labels and information sheets accordingly, but they have known about this change for quite a while now.

It is also quite misleading that the allergens need to be shown on the menus.  It has to either be made available verbally or be visible in writing, not necessarily on the menus.

According to the article the chairman of the Restaurant Association, the 7^th Earl of Bradford, stated:

‘What people who have allergies need to do is to alert the staff when they visit a restaurant. If the staff are trained properly, they will then be able to explain which dishes they will have a problem with,’ he said.

This is very true; however this is where the legislation falls down in my opinion anyway.  There are two sides to this. 

The first is that I’m not sure he understands what it is like to have an allergy or food intolerance.  I am a coeliac and thus cannot eat any foods containing gluten.  I hate ….and can I just emphasise HATE a little bit more…. going to eat in a restaurant and having to have the conversation about what food I can and cannot eat, the waiter/waitress then goes to have a chat with chef, then comes back to tell me what I can and can’t eat if they remove this that and the other from the meal etc. etc. etc.  Meanwhile my fellow diners are all a bit bored of having to discuss my diet yet again.  Then it doesn’t stop there.  The meals come out and I look suspiciously at the food handed to me (no-one mentioned the coleslaw…..is the coleslaw gluten free). Then we have the whole conversation again with the waiter/waitress. He/she then goes away and checks again.  Meanwhile everyone else’s food is getting cold.  I ask them to start.  I’m still waiting for confirmation and it’s either “no it’s fine” or, “oh we’re really sorry you can’t eat that bit”.  My food is now cold.  Everyone else has finished and I’m chewing my way through mine…… ! This is a normal regular dilemma.   

Does he have any idea how liberating it is to go to one of the, generally fast food, restaurants and order either straight off the special menu or specially labelled dish.  I can read what I fancy in my own time without numerous conversations with the staff.  I don’t feel embarrassed about being different and I can just enjoy eating out, because let’s face it, it’s supposed to be pleasurable.

The second issue (and this will always be true) is the contamination issue.  It saddens me greatly that some companies go to great lengths to provide a gluten free meal and then fall over in the preparation, cooking, plating and serving of it.  It’s not enough to know what is in the food, it is also how it’s prepared that is significant and the legislation does not take this into account at all.

There is a dire need for compulsory training of all staff on allergens.   There is so much blind ignorance as to the impact of consuming an allergenic foodstuff.  Phrases like “estimated 21 million Britons who claim to have food allergies” further add to the perception that we are all just fussy eaters and that a little bit won’t hurt us.

A further curveball is just around the corner.  The gluten free labelling legislation is being amended yet again in 2016….more on that to come I think!