Fake Certified gluten-free Logos

[anonymousplease]

Hi All,

I created a post about this on Reddit today but wanted to share it here as well to get the word out to the community. 

Yesterday's post on Reddit about the update to the Gluten Free Certification Organization's logo brought up a really good conversation about the misuse of the old logo. I recently looked in my pantry and immediately found three different versions of the logo on three different products. I reached out to the GFCO about it and this was their reply:

"Thank you for reaching out. Issues like the ones you have mentioned were a major driver for the update to our logo. If you want to tell me the name of any of those products, we can check to see if they are actually certified."

So then I sent them the name of the companies in question and a picture of the products. They replied again:

"GFCO does not certify any Nature’s Earthly Choice products, so you should treat those as though they are uncertified. We are aware of their logo misuse and are working through our legal team to have this resolved." 

So one of the products I asked about had a fake logo and the other two were legit.

I am livid. I realize that GFCO is doing their best and I am not angry with them just with the misuse of the logo. I had already reduced my diet down to only certified gluten free products and now to find out that the label cannot necessarily be trusted because people copy it fraudulently is a nightmare. Can I get all of the money back that I've spent on these products?! I mean we're talking YEARS and thousands and thousands of dollars here. I'm so angry.

Not to mention all of the mystery glutenings that made me go mad trying to figure out how I could have possibly made a mistake in what I thought was a 100% certified gluten-free home.

Please comment on how this makes you feel.

Link to Reddit Topic

 

 

[Scott Adams]

Clearly this is a big issue for the certification organization, and it may take lawsuits to stop this from happening. You can't blame the GFCO for this though, as it is clearly rogue food companies putting this on their products without authorization.

In reality, the GF and use of "gluten-free" is tough to protect via a trademark. For example, way back in the 1990's when I got a trademark on "The Gluten-Free Mall" I had to disclaim the use of "gluten-free" in the mark. In other words, "gluten-free" by itself could not be protected.

[anonymousplease]

I'm not upset with the GFCO, they do everything in their power to protect us. I'm angry with the companies that use their logo without authorization. I'm also upset with the FDA for not requiring that anything labeled gluten-free actually get tested. 

[Scott Adams]

I think it goes without saying that it is terrible that a company would use a false gluten-free certification, and it's my hope that the GFCO sues them and puts a stop to it. My point about their old logo is that it's vague, and hard to protect legally. I'm not 100% sure they can stop companies from putting "GF" in a circle on their packages...it's just a bad choice for a logo. It likely needs to be more distinctive in order for them to be able to protect it legally.

There might also be a basis for you to sue Nature’s Earthly Choice, but it would be complicated and expensive, you'd need to show damages, etc. I was a corporate paralegal for several years so I tend to think of this in terms of the legal issues, rather than the obviously morally bankrupt decision that Nature’s Earthly Choice made by stealing this logo and making it appear that their product is GFCO certified, when it isn't.

It might be worth doing an article on this situation for Celiac.com, but I hesitate because Nature’s Earthly Choice doesn't deserve any free publicity.