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Celiac.com 11/06/2017 - Gluten-free Starbucks patrons in South Florida just got a nice piece of news. Starbucks is now offering a new, gluten-free cupcake to select South Florida locations. Oh, and the cupcake also happens to be vegan. To deliver their newest gluten-free offering, Starbucks has partnered with Miami-based bakery, Bunnie Cakes, who will provide their locally made, gluten-free, and vegan passionfruit cupcakes to select Starbucks stores in the area. Bunnie Cakes has been a labor of love since owner, Mariana Cortez, first began making gluten-free and treats for two of her children, who have celiac disease. The small, nearly bite-sized cupcakes have been called 'cute,' but they have gained a popular following among gluten-free eaters, and are regarded by many as "one of the best cupcakes in Miami," Starbucks wrote in a press release. Bunnie Cakes' products have also attracted a bit of national attention, such as being named as a winner on Food Network's Cupcake Wars. If you live in South Florida, or if you find yourself visiting, and happen find yourself enjoying Bunnie Cakes gluten-free cupcakes, either at Starbucks, or at the bakery itself, we encourage you to share your experience in our comments section. Read more at onegreenplanet.org.

Celiac.com 03/31/2016 - Kellogg has announced that gluten-free versions of its Corn Flakes and Special K cereals will mark its gluten-free debut into the Australian cereal market. Kellogg calls the products a response to growing demand for gluten-free products from consumers with celiac disease and gluten intolerance. "We continue to see a growing number of consumers, including coeliac disease sufferers, requesting gluten free alternatives to our popular cereals." In formulating their new products, Kellogg set out to combat a perception in the Australian cereal market that gluten-free cereals routinely failed to "deliver a great taste experience that's consistent with products containing gluten," said Janine Brooker, portfolio marketing manager for Kellogg Australia. Kellogg "…wanted to make sure that our gluten-free Corn Flakes and Special K taste just as good as the original classics," Brooker added. Kellogg's Corn Flakes Gluten Free and Special K Gluten Free are available in 330g boxes at supermarkets across Australia.

Celiac.com 01/29/2016 - The drive to introduce specialties like kosher, gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly foods at college campuses has really taken off in the last few years, with more and more colleges establishing alternative dining halls and food selections on their campuses. The latest beneficiaries of the this movement are the students of the University of Delaware, which just opened the new, state-of-the-art Caesar Rodney Residence Hall Complex and dining hall, in partnership with food-service vendor Aramark. The dining hall will offer a new dining options for students with dietary restrictions, including kosher, gluten-free and vegan. Asked about the focus of the project, Ryan Boyer, marketing director for Aramark, says that main idea is "a restaurant-driven, culinary brand," where customers "see the food being prepared in front of them." The dining hall features an open floor plan that can seat nearly 1200 people at a time, but there are no slow, long cafeteria lines. That's because the hall relies on food preparation stations, much like a food court at a local mall. This way, large numbers of students can choose from a wide variety of offerings. To make it work at scale, each station makes just one main course per meal so the culinary staff can focus on preparing it well. But, with more than a dozen stations, there is no shortage of choices. Among the stations are one that is strictly gluten-free and another that is strictly vegan. There is also a kosher station that uses strict preparation techniques, and the facility even keeps a mashgiach on staff, to monitor food preparation to ensure it meets kosher standards. Here's hoping more university students nationwide will soon join their peers at the University of Delaware in enjoying the benefits of specialty dining options that meet their individual needs. Source: delawareonline.com

Celiac.com 01/03/2011 - Thanks to motivated food staff, students at the University of Connecticut will now be able to enjoy gluten-free menus in all of their dining halls, convenience stores and in the food courts. To better serve those students who suffer from celiac disease or are gluten-intolerant, the students have teamed with dining director Dennis Pierce and culinary development manager Robert Landlophi, to transform UConn’s menus. An estimated 75-100 students on a meal plan have celiac disease. The social and medical challenges and stigmas that can follow sufferers of celiac disease make it difficult to eat outside the home, particularly in a college dining hall. Medical advances in recent years have allowed for doctors better diagnose patients leading to a spike in the popularity of gluten-free diets. Pierce notes that the demand for a greater variety of gluten-free foods in grocery stores and restaurants is growing. As the author of the website, “The Gluten-Free Chef” and cookbook, Gluten-Free Everyday Cookbook, Landlophi knows the gluten-free lifestyle incredibly well after his wife was diagnosed with celiac disease. By sharing his family’s personal story, he has helped shed a brighter light on the solution that has brought relief to thousands: gluten-free for life. The culinary brain-child of Pierce and Landlophi comes as part of a joint effort to bring a gluten-free diet into the mainstream. Their menu, which took a few months to rework, already contained about 20% naturally gluten-free items, and needed only modest adjustments. As the country’s third largest residential student food program, serving nearly 180,000 meals each week, the menu stands out as national model for other schools. Pierce is also joining forces with Boston’s Children’s Hospital, who have implored his expertise in gluten-free lifestyles, to create a series of informational training videos and reading materials for those who suffer from celiac disease and other food service professionals. It is the hope of those involved that this information will also be utilized by parents of gluten-intolerant children to help insure a lifelong commitment to remaining gluten-free. Landlophi will be joining Pierce who will be attending the National Association of College and University Food Service Conference in Dallas, Texas. The two plan on making a presentation that addresses the growing need for gluten-free awareness on campuses across the country. Attendants can expect to hear about UConn’s self-imposed strict cooking protocols that are adhered to in order to avoid contamination with wheat products. UConn has taken it a step further to ensure that each student with a meal plan gets personal attention from the dining service staff which includes a detailed assessment of food allergies and dietary requirements. The selection and quality of gluten-free products available to the public is steadily improving, and the organizers have invested a great deal of time to guarantee that the best possible products are served to UConn’s students. Congratulations to UConn for forging a clear path for gluten-free students!

Celiac.com 02/27/2009 - A simple, reliable low-cost home screening test for celiac disease recently made its Canadian debut. According to health officials, about 1% of the population, or one out of every 100 Americans suffers from celiac disease. Currently, that total number of Americans with celiac disease stands somewhere near 3 million. Sadly, upwards of 97% of those affected remain undiagnosed. For people with celiac disease, eating gluten—a protein found in wheat, rye and barley—causes damage to the lining of the small intestine, preventing the uptake of nutrients. Delayed diagnosis can put people at risk for certain types of cancer and many other associated conditions, including infertility. Early diagnosis of celiac disease is actually quite easy and carries many advantages. Still, the average time for a correct diagnosis of celiac disease is 10 years from the first onset of symptoms. That figure is 12 years for Canadians, according to a 2007 survey of the 5000 member Canadian Celiac Association. Checking for celiac disease involves a simple blood test and usually a biopsy to follow up on positive results. Until now, that blood test was available solely through a doctor. Often, believing celiac to be rare, doctors are reluctant to order the blood test without overwhelming evidence. This can be problematical, as most people being diagnosed these days do not have classical symptoms, and are often asymptomatic. Numerous people have been forced to visit multiple doctors before confirming their diagnosis. Recently, the Finnish firm AniBiotech developed a unique, patient-friendly celiac disease test kit that can be used to provide quick, accurate results at home. Marketed in Canada by 2G Pharma, the Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit works by metering gluten antibody levels from a tiny fingertip blood sample, and is the currently the only point-of-care celiac disease test kit approved by Health Canada. The test tells users with a high degree of accuracy that they are either negative, developing celiac disease, or already have celiac disease. In the last two cases, the specially formulated Canadian kit encourages people to consult a physician for confirmation, which usually involves a biopsy of the small bowel. The Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit is currently available in Canada at London Drugs, Rexall Pharma Plus, and other major Canadian retail chains. More information can be found at www.celiachometest.com. The test kit is currently awaiting approval for U.S. distribution.

Celiac.com 02/06/2009 - The European Union’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued new rules for foods carrying the ‘gluten-free’ label. Under the new rules, foods labeled ‘gluten-free’ must have less than 20 parts of gluten per million. This new standard represents a ten-fold reduction over the prior rules, which set the gluten limit at 200 parts per million. The FSA also established a separate labeling category for cereals that have been specially processed to reduce gluten to levels below 100 parts per million. These foods may not be labeled ‘gluten-free,’ but must carry some other label such as ‘gluten-reduced,’ or ‘very-low gluten.’ The FSA indicates that the exact labeling for such products should be undertaken at the national level. Foods that are naturally gluten-free and acceptable for a gluten-free diet cannot be labeled as ‘gluten-free,’ or ‘special-diet,’ but may say that they are ‘naturally gluten-free.’ The rules require the term ‘gluten-free’ or ‘very-low gluten’ to appear prominently on the package label in a way that indicates the “true nature of the food.” These rules are designed to help people with celiac disease make more informed decisions about the gluten content of the food they eat. The new rules provide strict definitions for gluten and related grains and proteins, and gluten-free foods, and mandates standards for testing and measuring gluten levels in food. They also mandate that quantitative determination of gluten in foods and ingredients be based on an immunologic method or other method providing at least equal sensitivity and specificity, and that all testing done on equipment sensitive to gluten at 10 mg gluten/kg or below. The rules cite the Enzyme-linked Immunoassay (ELISA) R5 Mendez method as the officially sanctioned qualitative analysis method for determining gluten presence in food. European food makers can voluntarily adopt the new labeling system any time. Compliance becomes mandatory for all EU food makers on Jan. 1, 2012. Regarding the three-year delay, the FSA cited a need on the part of some manufacturers for time to make formulation and packaging changes. * Sources: Food Standards Agency: New rules for 'gluten free' foods