Bread lovers now have a new ingredient to look out for while shopping for bread as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently revealed that Georgia-based company Flower Foods, Inc. voluntarily recalled its Canyon Bakehouse Mountain White Bread and Canyon Bakehouse Everything Bagels due to the presence of gluten. The FDA reveals that gluten is a potentially dangerous ingredient.
While the bread label signifies that the bread is 100% gluten-free, this is not the case as the products contain traces of gluten. The presence of gluten in the products was discovered during routine testing.
The presence of gluten in an otherwise gluten-free product has serious medical implications, in that patients with wheat allergies and other conditions that require their staying off from gluten products may be misled. The FDA, in a statement released concerning the development, said that the product might cause serious health complications in people who have wheat allergies, celiac disease, gluten, or wheat sensitivity.
If a person exhibits wheat allergies, they may have swellings or irritation in their mouths or throat, headache, stomach problems, vomiting, congestion, hives, difficulty breathing, or anaphylaxis after eating wheat problems. Those with wheat sensitivity may find their symptoms come around again.
Customers in states such as Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming bought the retailed bread. However, no one has come out to complain about any illness or complications after taking the products to date.
The FDA has come out to say there’s no way to confirm if customers bought the bread containing gluten. However, the FDA told the customers to avoid products with UPC and Lot Number on them. Bread having UPC Number such as 8-53584-00200-3 and Lot Number with 032220323 should be gotten rid of. Bagels having UPC Number 8-53584-00221-8 and Lot Number 032220316 should also be discarded. Customers could also get refunds at their point of purchase.
The company has issued a statement saying it carries rigorous internal testing of its products and follows the guidelines of the Gluten-Free Certification Organization. However, product testing of some finished goods carried out recently revealed the presence of gluten outside the acceptable standards in some shipped products.
It apologized for its oversight while promising to carry a full audit of its inventory and ensuring that this mistake does not repeat itself.
Source: usatoday.com
