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    Jefferson Adams
    Jefferson Adams

    Gluten-free Fraud? Trial for Man Accused of Selling Tainted Bread

    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

    Celiac.com 04/09/2011 - A Durham, North Carolina man is currently on trial for fraud after being accused of deliberately selling bread labeled gluten-free that contained gluten, and which sickened more than two dozen people with food allergies.

    According to a Wake County prosecutor, the man, Paul Seelig, owner of Great Specialty Products, repeatedly lied to customers about the ingredients in his bread. Seelig faces more than two dozen fraud charges for taking customers' money under false pretenses. Prosecutors plan to call almost 50 witnesses.

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    Prosecutor Evans told jurors that witnesses would include two dozen customers who suffer from celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and who became ill after eating Seelig's products, along with the University of Nebraska experts who tested the bread.

    Evans said a former employee would testify that Seelig told her to lie to investigators about their operation, and that, during the State Fair, Seelig sent her and other workers to buy standard bagels at Costco and B.J.'s that Seelig's operation sold as gluten-free.

    "What this case is about is misrepresentations built on top of misrepresentations that this defendant made to people with medical conditions," Assistant District Attorney Shawn Evans said Tuesday during opening arguments in the trial. "The consequence was that many people got sick."

    According to prosecutors, Seelig knowingly misrepresented his bread as handmade, prepared in a dedicated gluten-free facility, and tested weekly for gluten contamination.

    Defense lawyer Blake Norman of Durham says Seelig, who reportedly suffers from Crohn's disease and cannot eat gluten, is merely a businessman who was looking to offer "reasonably priced gluten-free products" for consumers who suffer from food allergies.

    Norman also told jurors that Seelig would take the stand to tell his side of the story.

    However, Seelig might face an uphill battle for credibility if his criminal past comes under scrutiny. He has spent time in prison for two separate criminal convictions, the first for grand theft in 1991, which sent him to prison for more than two years, and a second in 2002, when Seelig was convicted in federal court of wire fraud and sentenced to four months in prison followed by three years of federal probation.

    If convicted of all the charges in the Wake County cases, Seelig, 48, faces at least eight years in prison if sentenced to consecutive terms.

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    Guest Hallie

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    I hope they make an example of him by putting him in jail for a good long stretch of time. He deserves it.

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  • About Me

    Jefferson Adams

    Jefferson Adams is Celiac.com's senior writer and Digital Content Director. He earned his B.A. and M.F.A. at Arizona State University. His articles, essays, poems, stories and book reviews have appeared in numerous magazines, journals, and websites, including North American Project, Antioch Review, Caliban, Mississippi Review, Slate, and more. He is the author of more than 2,500 articles on celiac disease. His university coursework includes studies in science, scientific methodology, biology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, logic, and advanced research. He previously devised health and medical content for Colgate, Dove, Pfizer, Sharecare, Walgreens, and more. Jefferson has spoken about celiac disease to the media, including an appearance on the KQED radio show Forum, and is the editor of numerous books, including "Cereal Killers" by Scott Adams and Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.

    >VIEW ALL ARTICLES BY JEFFERSON ADAMS

     


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