Blog - GlutenTox HomeGlutenTox Home

Meet Emport: Introducing Susan

by admin on August 31, 2012 in Misc.

If you call in to our Pittsburgh office, you just might get Susan on the other end of the line. So that you know who’s answering your questions, here’s a quick introduction to our Susan-of-all-trades, in her own words:

I’ve been working for Emport for a couple months now, and wanted to take a moment to say hello! A little background: I’ve been living and working in Emport’s home city of Pittsburgh since 1998, doing a lot of different kinds of things for all sorts of organizations.

About two years ago, my niece was diagnosed with a sensitivity to gluten. Since then, I have watched her tackle some of the diet issues that affect her quality of life. Luckily, she is not hypersensitive and with reasonable precautions, she has found more enjoyment in her life. She’s always looking for new snacks, and trying new recipes. I think she is getting pretty good at making bread, but she doesn’t try very often. It just doesn’t fit her current lifestyle to commit an afternoon to breadmaking! I am glad that I am working with a company that is directly involved in this issue, since I have been able to learn more about how serious this issue is.

I returned to Pittsburgh after quite a few years on the west coast, and in many ways it’s as if I have never left. Whatever free time I have is taken up by my lifelong interest in the arts. Pittsburgh has always had a lot to offer on the cultural scene, and this is one of the aspects of the city that drew me back. I am happy to be here.

Leave a comment

Our new site

by admin on July 30, 2012 in News, Press & Promotions

We have been working to update our site, and we are almost there!

There are still a few things that need to be worked on, and if you spot anything, just shoot us an email.

EDIT 8/31/12: If you find a glitch, and email us (or Tweet it, or Facebook it, we’re hep to the social media), we’ll thank you with a coupon for free shipping on any GlutenTox Home order!

Leave a comment

Fall Internship Available in Pittsburgh

by admin on July 10, 2012 in News

We are very delighted to be on the lookout for a fall intern in Sales/Marketing/Business Development here in our Pittsburgh office. If you are (or know of) a college student who is on the lookout for a pretty sweet for-credit internship, read on!

What we do:

Well, OK, if you’re reading this you already know what we do!

What you’ll do:

It sounds trite, but this internship will be largely what you make of it. There are opportunities for you to learn about PR (social media management, press releases, pitching stories, etc.), Marketing (both B2C and B2B, ie to individuals who might benefit from GlutenTox Home in their families and also to companies and cafeterias that might benefit from using GlutenTox Pro or Sticks to test for gluten in their products and gluten-free menu items), and Sales/Business Development (help us strategize and implement outreach plans for new parts of the marketplace).

There are also going to be days that involve some light admin work, some eating gluten-free food, and some stuff we can’t predict yet. You won’t be making coffee for people, we can promise you that much (but we have a Chemex and a very good grinder, and are happy to show you how they work).

What characteristics you’ll possess:

be motivated, independent, and detail-oriented
have impeccable writing skills
feel comfortable on a computer (basic Internet & Microsoft Office)
enjoy talking to strangers (see “social media management” above!)
be able to come to our office on Penn Ave in Garfield 2-3x weekly (10-15 hours/week)
be able to focus in a sometimes-chaotic environment

Bonus points but by no means required:

general familiarity with the gluten-free diet / celiac disease

If interested, send resume and cover letter to us via email. Cover letter doesn’t have to be formal, but it does have to A) give us a feel for your writing style and B) explain why this internship sounds like a good fit to you. If you’re a Pitt or CMU student, this information is also available via your school’s internship database.

Leave a comment

More GlutenTox on the Web, Less Gluten in Our Foods

by admin on June 29, 2012 in News

We’ve been a little quiet about it, so you might not have heard: finally we’ve launched our second website!

If you visit glutentoxpro.com, you’ll find a host of information about our professional gluten test kits. Not only are there details about GlutenTox Pro — our most popular kit, which combines the ease and accuracy of GlutenTox Home with some special features designed just for commercial kitchens and gluten-free manufacturers — but details about GlutenTox Sticks and the GlutenTox Reader as well (more* on those in a minute).

To coincide with the launch of the website, we’ve also introduced a new video that explains just how easy GlutenTox Pro is for detecting gluten contamination in foods, drinks and also on surfaces. Take a look (and a listen!) on YouTube!

*Although GlutenTox Pro is our most popular kit, we’re also delighted to offer GlutenTox Sticks for facilities that have access to lab equipment and require an extra degree of fine-tuning for their test results. Plus, GlutenTox Sticks can be used in conjunction with the GlutenTox Reader, a simple device that provides a precise, quantified result (eg, your sample has 16 PPM gluten) in seconds.

If you know a gluten-free manufacturer or a restaurant that serves gluten-free meals, ask them if they are doing any testing on-site. They might already be using GlutenTox — but if they aren’t, send them on over to check our gluten test kits out!

Leave a comment

We used GlutenTox Home to test Domino’s Gluten-Free Pizza…

by admin on June 13, 2012 in News

Well, curiosity finally got the best of us: we bought one of Domino’s gluten-free (but not celiac-safe) pizzas to check out here in the Emport offices. After carefully following the commentary (and checking out these lab results ordered by CeliAct, which did not use the G12 antibody and which we were completely unaffiliated with), we weren’t expecting to find oodles of gluten. But we also weren’t ready to chow down without doing some more research.

First, some background information. About a week ago, one of us (Emily, who’s also writing this post) walked into our local Domino’s and asked about the pizza. The woman behind the counter mentioned that they had separate trays and a separate pizza cutter in the back. Cue pleasant shock and surprise.

So, today I (Emily) went online and ordered a pizza. Half with no cheese — the better to test the crust — and half with cheese, spinach and mushrooms. I didn’t call to ask about the preparation, but when I went to pick the pizza up I did. This time, the employee confirmed the separate pizza cutter but said they did not have special trays.

For our first test, we took a few square inches of pizza crust from a cheeseless slice, scraped the tomato sauce off, and chopped everything up finely. For our second test, we took a hunk of cheese with spinach and mushroom and did the best we could to chop that up — a difficult task, but since our primary concern was surface contamination we weren’t too stressed about getting everything pulverized. If there were crumbs, they would come off during the extraction process. Read More…

Leave a comment

Guest Post on Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom: ELISA vs Lateral Flow Tests

by admin on April 27, 2012 in Misc.

Thoroughly pleased to be pointing you over to Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom today, where there’s a post from our very own Emily. The post covers the differences between testing for gluten with Lateral Flow Devices (like GlutenTox Home) and ELISA tests (like the G12 ELISA, which we don’t carry here at Emport, LLC).

The post also goes into the differences between Sandwich and Competitive ELISAs, the two most commonly-seen forms of ELISA test.

While you’re there, be sure to check out the other awesome things on Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom: recipes, menu plans, super-informative videos from Dr. Vikki Petersen, etc etc etc.

2 Comments

Alimentaria Presents: Testing for Gluten in Swedish Snack Foods

by admin on April 19, 2012 in Misc.

(ed.’s note: Below, a post written and translated by Mo, our lovely intern, originally posted at El Blog Sin Gluten!)

You know that game that kids and psychologists alike play “What´s the first word that comes to mind when I say…?”

Let´s play.

What the first word that comes to mind when I say Sweden?

What did you think of? Snow? “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”? Well, I thought of three things: cold, happy people, and high quality furniture.

However, after recent events, my answer has altered dramatically. Now, I hear Sweden and I think: bananas, coconuts and goji berries. Crazy, right? So what caused this extreme change?

Leave a comment

Does it matter if your gluten-free foods are certified?

by admin on April 5, 2012 in Misc.

There’s been a lot of talk about the FDA’s hesitation in declaring a national standard for what can or can not be considered gluten-free. And it’s true: there’s still no clear indication of what “gluten-free” means when it’s on a label in the supermarket: does the manufacturer test their ingredients? Their final product? Are they careful with their facility?

But an even-larger question is: what about foods that aren’t labeled gluten-free at all? If the ingredients listed are naturally gluten-free — but the package doesn’t make any gluten-free claims — is the food safe to eat for people who have celiac disease or are gluten sensitive?

Unfortunately there’s no easy answer, but a landmark study from 2010 is extremely illuminative. In the study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 22 “inherently gluten-free grains, seeds, and flours not labeled gluten-free were purchased” and sent to one of the country’s best labs for gluten detection and analysis.

The test performed on these foods was the R5 sandwich ELISA, and samples were homogenized and tested in duplicate to lessen the risk of any hot spots of gluten in the samples giving atypical results. The foods purchased included, “white rice, brown rice, white rice flour, corn meal, polenta, buckwheat, buckwheat flour, amaranth flour, amaranth seed, flax seed, millet flour, millet grain, sorghum flour, and soy flour.”

So, were these foods gluten-free? Not nearly as gluten-free as we might like to think. Of the 22 samples, only 13 (59%) tested below the limit of quantification, which was 5ppm at that time. The other nine samples (41%) contained more than 5ppm of gluten, and seven of those nine (32% of the total samples tested) contained more than 20ppm of gluten — more than the FDA’s proposed limit and the Codex Alimentarius’ internationally-recognized standard for gluten-free labeling.

What does this mean for your average grocery shopper on a gluten-free diet?

Many unlabeled items found in your normal grocery store are going to be safe for celiac consumption, but many of them are not. Certified ingredients, while more costly, are going to be a safer bet. That extra cost isn’t just for show: it goes towards the manufacturer testing incoming ingredients for gluten (often with GlutenTox Pro or GlutenTox Sticks!), thoroughly cleaning production lines in between runs of gluten-containing and gluten-free foods, and having third party analysis and inspection to ensure compliance with the certifying organization’s rules and regulations. In short: the money goes to keeping you safe if your gluten-free diet is a medically necessary one.

And what if there is no certified gluten-free option for the food you’re buying? Or what if you’re sensitive below 10ppm (the threshold most gluten-free certification organizations test to)? GlutenTox Home can be a great solution for foods, drinks or cosmetic / personal care products that might contain trace amounts of gluten. You can use the test kit to detect cross-contamination from wheat, barley, rye and even oats — and because you can adjust the test’s threshold down to 5ppm or 20ppm, the test is helpful for even very supersensitive celiacs.

Have you used GlutenTox Home to test any non-certified items and found hidden gluten? Tell us about it!

Leave a comment

What Does a Gluten-Free Diet Cost in Spain?

by admin on March 2, 2012 in Misc.

As many of you know, GlutenTox is produced in Spain — a country with plenty of (delicious) options for the gluten-free traveler. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live gluten-free in Spain?

If so, this report from Biomedal will surely be of interest!

Everybody knows that currently there is neither medical treatment nor cure for celiac disease; the only way to avoid or alleviate symptoms is by following a gluten free diet.

Chart of costs for gluten-eating family vs gluten-free family

Ouch! The cost of eating gluten-free.

That being said, its impossible to imagine the possibility that one with celiac disease could live a normal lifestyle without the inconvenience of a gluten free diet, due to the risk of developing an autoimmune disease or even lymphoma. Fortunately, thanks to medical advances and the increase in awareness among the general population, it has become easier to find gluten free products in grocery stores and local supermarkets. The drawback is that these products require a particular manufacturing process and in some cases special ingredients, which are therefore reflected by a higher price.

So realistically, how expensive is a gluten free diet in Spain?
Read More…

Leave a comment

Celiac Disease: worldwide travelers

by admin on February 20, 2012 in Misc.

Today, we’re very happy to share this repost from Biomedal’s El Blog sin Gluten:

Biomedal Diagnostics is happy to have Tina Turbin the multi award-winning children’s author of the acclaimed Danny the Dragon children’s series as a guest for our GlutenTox blog:

As celiac disease patients and worldwide travelers, where do you find it most difficult to keep a gluten free diet? It is most difficult to keep a gluten free diet in most restaurants. When we grocery shop and cook for ourselves that is far easier. One always run the risk when eating out because that cross contamination can occur. Relaying we have celiac to a waiter or waitress in detail is very important