Penzeys

[Aretaeus Cappadocia]

I had what I thought was a helpful interaction with Penzeys today. However, the result is a little different than other Penzeys posts on this website.

In a previous interaction last year, Penzeys told my spouse on the phone that everything they sold was gluten safe, except for fenugreek and mixes containing fenugreek.

Today I called them again because I wanted to buy a spice mix containing fenugreek.

This is what I understood from my call today (the very nice person on the phone said they were referring to prepared guide made for the customer service reps):

1. Penzeys does not add gluten to any of their products.

2. Penzeys monitors gluten levels in their products.

3. If Penzeys does not detect gluten, they sell the product with no label relating to gluten. This covers "97%" of their products

4. If Penzeys detects gluten levels above 20 ppm, they label the product as "contains gluten".

5. If Penzeys detects gluten levels below 20 ppm, they label the product as "contains low (or very low) levels of gluten". (this may have a lower limit of 5 ppm, but I am not certain if that is what they intended to convey)

I looked on their website, and fenugreek had "Contains a very low level of gluten" on the page. The product I wanted, Ethiopian-Style Pepper Blend, contains fenugreek as the 5th ingredient. There was no gluten warning on the page.

From this I believe that this pepper blend is less than 1/5 fenugreek, which itself is less than 20 ppm gluten, and of course the spice will be a small component of any recipe.

Therefore I bought it and intend to use it. Other people may draw other conclusions, which is fine. We each have to make our own decisions.

I also suggested to Penzeys that they just post this on their website. Put whatever caveats they need, but let the customer have the best information available.