Club House spices

[FrankyThePT]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here. Just wanted to let you know what I found out. I trusted Club House and McCormick spices in the past, especially single spices in which there shouldn't be anything else, in my opinion. Nothing on the packaging indicates "may contain" of any allergen. I've been sick many times eating different meals and finally found who's guilty. 

Frank

[cyclinglady]

1 hour ago, FrankyThePT said:

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here. Just wanted to let you know what I found out. I trusted Club House and McCormick spices in the past, especially single spices in which there shouldn't be anything else, in my opinion. Nothing on the packaging indicates "may contain" of any allergen. I've been sick many times eating different meals and finally found who's guilty. 

Frank

Is that a NIMA sensor?  NIMA does not recommend testing spices.  The GlutenFree Watchdog does not recommend it either.  All spices,  except for one, tested showed “low gluten” using the NIMA sensor.  She has tested many spices over the past few years at a qualified lab and has rarely found gluten in spices (mixes excluded).  

Open Original Shared Link

Maybe you have an intolerance to cumin, like I have to garlic.  Of course that batch could be bad, but it seems unlikely.  

How long have you been gluten free?  When was the last time your antibodies were checked?  I did have elevated antibodies recently, but a recent endoscopy revealed a healed small intestine, supporting the fact that I am adhering to the diet.  However, the endoscopy/pathology indicat d autoimmune chronic gastritis which is not related to my gluten-free diet.  Like my Hashimoto’s, it can flare up for no rhyme or reason.  Just something to consider.  Not everything is celiac-related, but it is a good place to start.  

[apprehensiveengineer]

Ditto for not trusting the Nima with spices, but...

If you are super worried about spices, try the McCormick brand. Most consider them the "gold standard" of spices for celiacs/people with allergies. McCormick's plant is in Canada, and they employ quality control standards.

McCormick also makes the Club House brand, so I think that it is likely quite safe. In Canada, the Club House brand spice mixes/seasonings (but not pure spices) that are gluten-free are certified by the Canadian Celiac Assoc. FWIW, there was a NA-wide cumin recall ~2 years ago due to peanut contamination, but McCormick/Club House was not part of it.

Realistically, the amount of spice that you use in a given serving of food is quite small, so the spice would have to be very contaminated to cause you an issue (from a gluten perspective). This is not to say that you shouldn't worry at all (spices are very commonly adulterated or cut with other things, and come from countries that have much less allergen awareness), but I think that as long as you are buying from a company that employs proper quality control, you should be reasonably safe.

If that's not enough, you can always buy the spice ingredients in their pure form (ie. ginger root, turmeric root, fresh chili peppers etc.). That is the absolute safest option, but most don't need to go there.

 

[Ennis-TX]

I started using Spicely Organics years ago as they are certified gluten free....honestly my nima has also given them a clear bill of health.

[FrankyThePT]

10 hours ago, apprehensiveengineer said:

Ditto for not trusting the Nima with spices, but...

If you are super worried about spices, try the McCormick brand. Most consider them the "gold standard" of spices for celiacs/people with allergies. McCormick's plant is in Canada, and they employ quality control standards.

McCormick also makes the Club House brand, so I think that it is likely quite safe. In Canada, the Club House brand spice mixes/seasonings (but not pure spices) that are gluten-free are certified by the Canadian Celiac Assoc. FWIW, there was a NA-wide cumin recall ~2 years ago due to peanut contamination, but McCormick/Club House was not part of it.

Realistically, the amount of spice that you use in a given serving of food is quite small, so the spice would have to be very contaminated to cause you an issue (from a gluten perspective). This is not to say that you shouldn't worry at all (spices are very commonly adulterated or cut with other things, and come from countries that have much less allergen awareness), but I think that as long as you are buying from a company that employs proper quality control, you should be reasonably safe.

If that's not enough, you can always buy the spice ingredients in their pure form (ie. ginger root, turmeric root, fresh chili peppers etc.). That is the absolute safest option, but most don't need to go there.

 

I was not that worried about spices until I realized the reason I got sick many times was from using this particular one, even if I took the habit of buying another brand that is gluten-free. I tested other Club House ones with Nima and they ended up gluten free. And yes, even a tablespoon in a 4L soup broth is enough to have me on my knees for two weeks. I wrote them an e-mail and they answered that it is impossible for individual spices to contain gluten. I just tested it again, and it ends up with the same thing; gluten found. I will keep on buying the Dion brand that we have here in Québec. They have hundreds of spices and mixes, all gluten-free :-)

[FrankyThePT]

19 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

Is that a NIMA sensor?  NIMA does not recommend testing spices.  The GlutenFree Watchdog does not recommend it either.  All spices,  except for one, tested showed “low gluten” using the NIMA sensor.  She has tested many spices over the past few years at a qualified lab and has rarely found gluten in spices (mixes excluded).  

Open Original Shared Link

Maybe you have an intolerance to cumin, like I have to garlic.  Of course that batch could be bad, but it seems unlikely.  

How long have you been gluten free?  When was the last time your antibodies were checked?  I did have elevated antibodies recently, but a recent endoscopy revealed a healed small intestine, supporting the fact that I am adhering to the diet.  However, the endoscopy/pathology indicat d autoimmune chronic gastritis which is not related to my gluten-free diet.  Like my Hashimoto’s, it can flare up for no rhyme or reason.  Just something to consider.  Not everything is celiac-related, but it is a good place to start.  

Never read anything about Nima recommending not testing spices, didn't know that. At Nima, they seem to be testing spices themselves. They just recommend to dilute it with some water.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

I've been on a gluten-free diet since 2014, and I feel perfectly fine 99% of the time. I was trying to find what got me sick everytime I made myself a Pho soup, tested everything and Club House cumin is the only thing that tested positive. I don't have an intolerance to cumin, I'm celiac and this is giving me exactly the symptoms I recognize, unfortunately. 

Thanks for trying to help.

Frank

[apprehensiveengineer]

11 hours ago, FrankyThePT said:

I was not that worried about spices until I realized the reason I got sick many times was from using this particular one, even if I took the habit of buying another brand that is gluten-free. I tested other Club House ones with Nima and they ended up gluten free. And yes, even a tablespoon in a 4L soup broth is enough to have me on my knees for two weeks. I wrote them an e-mail and they answered that it is impossible for individual spices to contain gluten. I just tested it again, and it ends up with the same thing; gluten found. I will keep on buying the Dion brand that we have here in Québec. They have hundreds of spices and mixes, all gluten-free :-)

Did you use a bouillon cube/broth mix? I've had some problems with them, even with those that are labelled gluten-free. They typically contain a number of ingredients that while inherently gluten-free, could be poorly sourced (yeast, spices etc.).

I think the important thing to understand with the Nima (in case you don't feel like reading the report by GFWD) is that it can only give you an approximate answer because of the way the device is designed. A positive could mean 5 ppm or it could mean >20 ppm. It is also prone to false positives for colourful things like spices (which is why it is not validated for this purpose).

I'm not saying that it's impossible that you had a reaction to the Club House spice, I'm just saying that the Nima isn't a good basis to make definitive conclusion on this matter. FWIW, I don't buy this brand either, but I don't think it's fair to class it as categorically unsafe on the testimony of an instrument that isn't reliable for this specific situation.

[FrankyThePT]

On 13/02/2018 at 10:20 PM, apprehensiveengineer said:

Did you use a bouillon cube/broth mix? I've had some problems with them, even with those that are labelled gluten-free. They typically contain a number of ingredients that while inherently gluten-free, could be poorly sourced (yeast, spices etc.).

I think the important thing to understand with the Nima (in case you don't feel like reading the report by GFWD) is that it can only give you an approximate answer because of the way the device is designed. A positive could mean 5 ppm or it could mean >20 ppm. It is also prone to false positives for colourful things like spices (which is why it is not validated for this purpose).

I'm not saying that it's impossible that you had a reaction to the Club House spice, I'm just saying that the Nima isn't a good basis to make definitive conclusion on this matter. FWIW, I don't buy this brand either, but I don't think it's fair to class it as categorically unsafe on the testimony of an instrument that isn't reliable for this specific situation.

Yes, I used gluten-free chicken broth. I know it's alright since I never got symptoms with this brand and often just drink a small cup of hot chicken broth. What I'm saying is not based solely on a instrument. Nima helped me find what was responsable for me getting sick eating homemade Pho soup I make once in a while. I decided to test every suspect ingredients and only found the cumin to test positive. Symptoms like headaches, extreme fatigue, going to the washroom 6-8 times a day, acid reflux, pain everywhere, tell me I ate gluten even in incredibly small quantity, like cross contamination. Unfortunately, these symptoms often subsists for about 2 weeks or more. I prefer not having them and I think being more severe is the only way. I prefer a false positive than a false negative. That is why, under these circumstances, I will trust Nima. In case anyone else feels the same way I do, I just wanted to let them what got me sick a few times in the last year. Have a good day :-)

[skimommy33]

On 2/15/2018 at 9:12 AM, FrankyThePT said:

Yes, I used gluten-free chicken broth. I know it's alright since I never got symptoms with this brand and often just drink a small cup of hot chicken broth. What I'm saying is not based solely on a instrument. Nima helped me find what was responsable for me getting sick eating homemade Pho soup I make once in a while. I decided to test every suspect ingredients and only found the cumin to test positive. Symptoms like headaches, extreme fatigue, going to the washroom 6-8 times a day, acid reflux, pain everywhere, tell me I ate gluten even in incredibly small quantity, like cross contamination. Unfortunately, these symptoms often subsists for about 2 weeks or more. I prefer not having them and I think being more severe is the only way. I prefer a false positive than a false negative. That is why, under these circumstances, I will trust Nima. In case anyone else feels the same way I do, I just wanted to let them what got me sick a few times in the last year. Have a good day :-)

I feel like a few people here don't want to believe a spice could be unsafe and they're attacking the messenger and the testing method. I would also prefer a false positive to a Celiac reaction and I prefer putting an item through my Nima sensor to putting it through my intestines for "testing". I have been mildly ill after taco night many times & I just found the culprit in McCormick Original Taco Seasoning Mix the same way, first with my body and then confirmed with my Nima. Fortunately McCormick makes a certified Gluten Free Taco Seasoning Mix so I'll be using that now. FYI, there is NOTHING on the McCormick Original Taco Mix packaging that indicates gluten. It discloses processing with dairy in the facility but nothing about wheat or gluten.