Statement on 'Wheat Free' and 'Gluten Free' Products

• List of 'Wheat Free' Products
• List of 'Gluten Free' Products

What Eden Foods means by 'Wheat Free' is that there are no wheat or wheat derivatives in the ingredients, though these foods may contain gluten.

Gluten is protein composite found in wheat (spelt, kamut, emmer, einkorn, and khorasan varieties included), rye, barley, and crossbred hybrids such as triticale, a cross of wheat and rye. More than 2 million people in the U.S. have Celiac disease, a disorder in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged in response to ingestion of gluten. Many more have varying levels of gluten sensitivity or gluten allergies.

Today, there is no specific U.S. food regulation for labeling of gluten-free food. Industry standards state, and this is how the food industry functions today, that below 20 parts per million (ppm) means it is Gluten Free. A Gluten Free diet is a difficult challenge because foods that contain gluten are so numerous, common and prevalent.

Eden foods offers 264 food items that are Gluten Free, out of the 449 items it offers. 60% of Eden foods are gluten free.

What Eden Foods means by 'Gluten Free' is:

First, and most importantly:
Eden Foods' full disclosure practices, and complete transparency regarding ingredients, means that everything that could even remotely be considered an ingredient is listed in the ingredient statement. Unfortunately, doing this is extremely rare. In fact, we are aware of no other national brand food company that does this.

Second:
Before we ever say a food is Gluten Free we send a representative sample to a laboratory that is recommended by the Celiac Society. We do this in order to have credible documentation on file demonstrating Eden Foods' Gluten Free information.

Third:
Eden Foods' Gluten Free information is not solely based on testing. We also rely on superb manufacturing practices and meticulous handling, being highly motivated in the prevention of allergen cross-contamination as exemplified by our food safety programs such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Point), AIB International audits, and BRC Global Standards. Eden Foods' suppliers that also handle our foods are severely monitored by us, and under our requirements are we deem them necessary to accommodate our, and our customers', desires.

Currently intriguing to us are gluten containing food items that are fully fermented, converting their composition back to their building blocks. This causes them to become Gluten Free. In these cases all of the proteins have been broken down by fermentation into their component amino acids, or components of the amino acids, removing the triggers of gluten sensitivity that are in gluten proteins.

An incomplete fermentation process will leave proteins whole that more complete fermentation would have broken down. Incomplete fermentation, whether by choice of the maker for desired effect, or just for shortening the process and lowering their cost, is a reason to be cautious about these foods, but Eden Foods tests them for a degree of certainty. Only when fermentation is fully complete, do cases such as this become Gluten Free.

An example of gluten containing food becoming gluten-free through fermentation are Eden Shoyu Soy Sauces. Wheat is an ingredient, but when the shoyu soy sauces are tested for gluten, there is none, because they were completely fermented and the gluten sensitivity triggering proteins no longer exist. All Eden Shoyu Soy Sauces are Gluten Free. We have found the same to be true for miso. After completed fermentation Mugi Miso becomes Gluten Free despite the fact that barley is a major ingredient.

Nevertheless, these Gluten Free shoyu soy sauces have as an ingredient a gluten containing food, wheat. This fermentation process of transformation to Gluten Free is just now becoming understood, and the majority of folks have not gotten their heads around it quite yet, resulting in unnecessary exclusion of foods in the pursuit of Gluten Free diets.

It is possible that Eden Foods could change ingredients, suppliers, or processes that would change a foods nature and perhaps make it contain gluten when it had not previously. If this should ever occur, you can be assured that Eden Foods will immediately update our Gluten Free list and food listings to reflect that change. Eden Foods understands the vital importance of these distinctions to many people, and we take our role as a food supplier to them quite seriously. Eden Foods' staff is vigilant, and can be relied upon to perform their duties to our customers at an extremely high level of dependability.