Is Classico pasta sauce still gluten free after repackaging?

[Aaron2018]

I recently noticed that Classico tomato sauce did a repackage and removed the word in the ingredients that said gluten free from all tomato sauce versions , so now I wonder if it is safe for me to eat still now that it no longer says gluten free? or should I just stop buying the products from Classico that no longer says gluten free in the ingredients?

I know that the word gluten free was not easy to spot if you didn’t know it was there because it was buried in the ingredients section of the product packaging, I know that as of the date this is posted the Classico sauce that have rosay, alfredo , etc and come in a smaller bottle still say gluten free in the ingredients.
 

https://www.google.ca/search?q=classico&tbm=isch&hl=en-ca&chips=q:classico,online_chips:four+cheese+sauce:8IbTjD40xek%3D&client=safari&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiaoruavc-CAxXsIWIAHW3tBNwQ4lYoAXoECAEQLg&biw=1024&bih=665#imgrc=6cU0PozThvDW2M

This is the safe version smaller , containers that have flavours like rosay, alfredo  , etc

 

https://www.google.ca/search?q=classico&tbm=isch&hl=en-ca&chips=q:classico,online_chips:four+cheese+sauce:8IbTjD40xek%3D&client=safari&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiaoruavc-CAxXsIWIAHW3tBNwQ4lYoAXoECAEQLg&biw=1024&bih=665#imgrc=64td0bxwQG9LRM 

this one is the tomato sauce version I was talking about, all the flavours that came in this size of bottle lots there gluten free clame.

[trents]

I would contact the company and ask them why they removed the gluten free claim.

[RMJ]

Definitely contact the company.  They may have changed something about the manufacturing conditions.  

When my favorite cocoa powder was suddenly missing the gluten free claim I contacted the company.  They had changed manufacturing sites and it was now made on equipment that also processed wheat.

[Aaron2018]

😃👍Thanks, I will call them .

[Scott Adams]

Please let us know what you find.

[Aaron2018]

Yes I will update you when they get back to me.  FYI the one thing I hate is when companies don’t have a callable number I had to leave an email .

[Aaron2018]

Update: the company got back to me, here’s what they said: 

Thanks for reaching out.

 

When labeling products, we make every attempt to list other sources of gluten as reported to us by suppliers such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale, kamut, spelt or by their hybridized strains. Unless specified on the label, we don't guarantee that the product is gluten-free.

 

when I got the email, I was confused because it had  Kraft Hines logo on the email, so I did some digging and found on the bottle I had still in my fridge tiny text that I missed last time that was the Customer Service number. The number was just as small as the ingredients list text. I called the customer service number and they told me that they were craft Heines so I asked them if I had the right number and they said that yes they also owned Classico, so I asked the same question I asked on the email, and the guy asked me what is the barcode number of my product so I told him the barcode number and he said That there is no gluten ingredients listed on the label so it should be safe, but when I asked about safe practises and cross-contamination, he dodged the subject like a politician or celebrity, answering the question, but not really answering the question. With all this information I’ve gathered I am pretty confident that the information given to me from the email is the most accurate .  In Canada kraft is known for not being gluten free ( Philadelphia cream cheese that comes in a block is the only gluten free product from craft ) so that is also why I called the company, even though I got my answer. when waiting on the phone I was thinking “please still be gluten free” but in the end the email from the company was right , unfortunately, not gluten free anymore.😞

[trents]

14 minutes ago, Aaron2018 said:

Update: the company got back to me, here’s what they said: 

Thanks for reaching out.

 

When labeling products, we make every attempt to list other sources of gluten as reported to us by suppliers such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale, kamut, spelt or by their hybridized strains. Unless specified on the label, we don't guarantee that the product is gluten-free.

 

when I got the email, I was confused because it had  Kraft Hines logo on the email, so I did some digging and found on the bottle I had still in my fridge tiny text that I missed last time that was the Customer Service number. The number was just as small as the ingredients list text. I called the customer service number and they told me that they were craft Heines so I asked them if I had the right number and they said that yes they also owned Classico, so I asked the same question I asked on the email, and the guy asked me what is the barcode number of my product so I told him the barcode number and he said That there is no gluten ingredients listed on the label so it should be safe, but when I asked about safe practises and cross-contamination, he dodged the subject like a politician or celebrity, answering the question, but not really answering the question. With all this information I’ve gathered I am pretty confident that the information given to me from the email is the most accurate .  In Canada kraft is known for not being gluten free ( Philadelphia cream cheese that comes in a block is the only gluten free product from craft ) so that is also why I called the company, even though I got my answer. when waiting on the phone I was thinking “please still be gluten free” but in the end the email from the company was right , unfortunately, not gluten free anymore.😞

But even though it's not produced on gluten-free dedicated equipment that does not mean it necessarily exceeds the <20ppm standard set by the FDA (a USA government agency) to qualify as gluten free. It just means you can't count on it. Most celiacs who are not of the super sensitive subset constantly deal with these kind of issues and probably make decisions to consume some main stream products that do not contain gluten as an intentional ingredient but have the "produced on equipment that also produces wheat . . . etc." You kind of learn by experience in these matters. We learn that such products likely do not exceed 20ppm of gluten but some do. An example would be dried lentils which have been shown to often contain a high percentage of wheat seeds.

[Aaron2018]

There is no gluten free claim on bottles also no warning statement , but other smaller bottles have gluten-free claim that are smaller, example rosemary, pizza, sauces etc from Classico. I am also super sensitive to gluten so any cross contamination present and I will know it’s there.

I hope I’m wrong about this but it looks like the smaller bottles have not gone through repackaging so they have the same back packaging as the previous larger, no longer gluten-free bottles used to have, if the smaller bottles do go through repackaging in the future, they two could also lose their gluten free status, but I hope 🤞 that doesn’t happen.

 

 

[Scott Adams]

2 hours ago, Aaron2018 said:

Update: the company got back to me, here’s what they said: 

Thanks for reaching out.

 

When labeling products, we make every attempt to list other sources of gluten as reported to us by suppliers such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale, kamut, spelt or by their hybridized strains. Unless specified on the label, we don't guarantee that the product is gluten-free.

 

when I got the email, I was confused because it had  Kraft Hines logo on the email, so I did some digging and found on the bottle I had still in my fridge tiny text that I missed last time that was the Customer Service number. The number was just as small as the ingredients list text. I called the customer service number and they told me that they were craft Heines so I asked them if I had the right number and they said that yes they also owned Classico, so I asked the same question I asked on the email, and the guy asked me what is the barcode number of my product so I told him the barcode number and he said That there is no gluten ingredients listed on the label so it should be safe, but when I asked about safe practises and cross-contamination, he dodged the subject like a politician or celebrity, answering the question, but not really answering the question. With all this information I’ve gathered I am pretty confident that the information given to me from the email is the most accurate .  In Canada kraft is known for not being gluten free ( Philadelphia cream cheese that comes in a block is the only gluten free product from craft ) so that is also why I called the company, even though I got my answer. when waiting on the phone I was thinking “please still be gluten free” but in the end the email from the company was right , unfortunately, not gluten free anymore.😞

Kraft has long stood by its allergen declarations, so if they don't list an allergen it should be safe.

[Aaron2018]

Maybe in American but I’m from Canada  and every time I’ve contacted Kraft about stuff they’ve said they can’t guarantee whether it’s gluten-free or not , with the exception of cream cheese, and block form, the Philadelphia, cream cheese, and block form is the only safe thing they told me

[Scott Adams]

If you go here:

https://www.kraftheinzcompany.com/esg/labeling.html

You will see:

Quote

SmartLabel®

In the U.S. and Canada, we provide product information through the SmartLabel website. Responding to the informational needs of today’s consumer, the SmartLabel initiative enables Kraft Heinz to provide consumers with the detailed information they seek about our products. More than 2,600 Kraft Heinz products have been listed on smartlabel.org, including Boca, Capri Sun, Classico, Gevalia, Mio, Jell-O, and many others, with plans to add more for both the U.S. and Canada.

Here is where you can search their products and see the ingredients and any allergen warnings:

https://smartlabel.org/product-search/?product=kraft+foods

for example:

https://smartlabel.kraftheinz.com/A1/productdetails/00054400000047#allergens

Quote

According to the FDA, the most common food allergens are milk, peanuts, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, soy, tree nuts, wheat and sesame.

"THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY OF THESE COMMON FOOD ALLERGENS"

 

[Aaron2018]

They look safe based on the information posted on the website, but I think this website is outdated and not updated because they are using outdated photos Classico products don’t look like the photos on the website  any more, the company even emailed me and said they are not gluten free. So I will not be buying there tomato sauces anymore. I wish I could trust the website , but there are to many red flags like : removing gluten free claims from packaging , really old photos on website, the company said to me they are not gluten free over email and company talks about no gluten being present because of ingredients, but skip past my cross contamination question and ect. So I am inclined to believe they are not gluten free.

[Scott Adams]

Please share that email with us, as their web site indicates that every single Classico tomato or red pasta sauces are gluten-free:

https://www.classico.com/products

For example:

https://www.classico.com/product/00041129424506/classico-family-favorites-parmesan--romano-smooth--rich-pasta-sauce-24-oz-jar

Kraft has always done an excellent job with allergen labelling. 

[Aaron2018]

That is not the product I am talking about or maybe it is an old photo, but either way I’m not going to take my chances because the company says Classico pasta sauce is  not gluten free anymore for big bottles.

also all the grocery stores in my city no  longer have a gluten free claim on the  classico packaging  now that Classico did a repackaging.

[Scott Adams]

Can you share the email with us from Kraft about Classico? If there was any change it would be good to share this with the community. As far as I can tell from their website they are still claiming that all of their tomato and red pasta sauces are gluten-free, and you browse this here:
https://www.classico.com/products

[Aaron2018]

Here is the email Kraft sent me.

[Scott Adams]

Ok, this looks like a cut & paste, but basically backs up what is said on their site. There are no gluten ingredients and no allergens listed, but if you are super sensitive I can understand why you would want "gluten-free" on the label. They do have it on their website for all these products, so I believe their gluten-free and safe for those with celiac disease.

[Aaron2018]

When I sent  the first image I had cropped it, so it didn’t show any of the email stuff. Here is the official uncrop version crossed out my email for privacy purposes.

[Aaron2018]

Here are some photos of what Classico should look like:

[Scott Adams]

Here in the USA I've had Classico sauces many times with no issues, and their own web site still claims they are gluten-free and do not contain gluten ingredients. It's up to you whether or not you want to include them in your diet, but there is a big difference between the statement that they cannot guarantee that they are gluten-free, and your statement that they now contain gluten. I don't believe that they contain gluten.

[Aaron2018]

The company told me they can’t guarantee that it is gluten-free, with that information I don’t have any plans to buy classical pasta souse products ever again . Plus, it’s also strange that they would have a claim saying it was gluten-free in the ingredients list and then suddenly remove the claim after a repackage, that gives me a red flag. The gluten free claim removal is one of the main reasons I will not be buying their products ever again. I will still continue to buy their pizza sauce though, because they say it’s gluten-free and have not removed that statement, but if in the future they remove the statement then I will stop buying there pizza souse. 
 

 the main concern for me is the fact that they can’t guarantee that it’s gluten-free anymore, it used to say it was gluten-free in ingredients list. If it never claimed to be gluten-free from the beginning , but their website can confirm it was safe then I would trust that it’s safe to consume,  but because I was told  by the company that they can’t guarantee  Classico pasta souse is gluten-free and the products use to say gluten free , but no longer does , there is to much risk. Canada has different rules compared to U.S.A , yes  we share some similarities but we have much stricter rules for gluten free products. For example: kraft dinner gluten free Mac and cheese is not sold in Canada, you will also not find a gluten-free claim on any General Mills products sold in Canada because there products are not considered gluten-free in Canada.

I am not saying that Classico pasta sauce’s are guaranteed to contain gluten in their products, that I cannot 100%say if or if not, but with all the information that I got from the company, and the fact that their products have removed, gluten-free claim indicates that there could be cross-contamination, even if not declared on packaging.

[Scott Adams]

We've written articles about the differences between Canadian and USA, European, etc. laws, which are the likely cause of their change in Canada, but not the USA--here they still say gluten-free on their website as I've mentioned. I doubt a single thing has changed with the product, but lawyers likely have pushed the change due to the differences in Canadian vs. USA laws (but I am speculating here). Until I see gluten-free removed from their website for these products I'll continue using them. 

Here are some articles we've done on Canadian regulations and how they've affected Cheerios labelling among other products:

https://www.celiac.com/search/?&q=canadian&type=cms_records2&search_and_or=and&search_in=titles 

[Aaron2018]

I have read this article you posted and yes maybe Classico is still following the 20ppm but how do we really know? I personally don’t want to chance it and will still not eat Classico products, other than their pizza sauce, but if there pizza sauce looses it’s gluten-free claim I will stop eating it as well . I lose trust in companies products when they remove a gluten-free claim that was previously there.

if the claim was never there on the package to begin with, I would not be as concerned, if you’re going out of your way to put it on your packaging and then you remove it there must be something wrong, even if it was a lawyer thing where they decided to remove the text, we have no proof if that’s the case, so how do we really know that it still is safe, websites are good for referencing. if the Classico packaging never claim to be gluten-free on the packaging to begin with, then the website claiming that a product is gluten-free would make total sense, but because they removed the claim on their packaging and the website still says it’s gluten-free I’m skeptical. If it was an issue with lawyers, wouldn’t they also want to remove the gluten-free claim from their website as well? 🤨

[Scott Adams]

A company like Kraft, or any food manufacturer, needs to include wheat in an ingredient label if there is any chance of contamination during manufacturing for several important reasons:

• Allergen Awareness: Wheat is one of the top allergens, and even small amounts of wheat can trigger severe allergic reactions in individuals with wheat allergies or sensitivities. By clearly listing wheat as an ingredient, manufacturers help consumers identify products that may pose a risk to their health.
• Legal Requirements: Food labeling laws and regulations, such as the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in the United States, mandate that common allergens, including wheat, be clearly disclosed on food labels. This ensures that consumers have access to accurate and transparent information about the ingredients in the products they purchase.
• Consumer Safety and Trust: Including wheat in the ingredient label, even in cases of potential contamination, demonstrates a commitment to consumer safety and builds trust with customers. By providing clear and honest information about potential allergen risks, manufacturers can help consumers make informed decisions and avoid products that may pose a danger to their health.
• Liability and Risk Management: Failure to disclose potential allergen contamination, such as traces of wheat, could expose the company to legal liability if consumers experience adverse reactions. By accurately labeling products and warning consumers of potential allergen risks, manufacturers can mitigate their risk of liability and protect their reputation.

Overall, including wheat in the ingredient label, even when there is a risk of contamination during manufacturing, is essential for allergen awareness, legal compliance, consumer safety, and risk management. It ensures that individuals with wheat allergies or sensitivities can make informed choices and safely enjoy food products without risking their health.