{"id":317,"date":"2017-05-11T15:05:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T13:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/?p=317"},"modified":"2017-05-12T10:55:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T08:55:25","slug":"mrs-bread-care-follow-up-lab-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/mrs-bread-care-follow-up-lab-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Mrs Bread Care follow-up lab tests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mrs
Latest Mrs Bread Care label that was tested.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOPIC concluded the investigation into Mrs Bread Care’s Cauliflower Spinach Protein Bread at the end of March 2017 and we published our findings to consumers in our blog post here: <\/span>http:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/mrs-bread-care-protein-bread<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On the 4th of March, Bryanston Organic & Natural Market<\/a> (BONM) obtained another loaf and it was sent for testing with the same laboratory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two tests were done: a PCR test to detect if any wheat was present, and an ELISA test to determine the amount of gluten in the loaf. The PCR test came back positive (see table below), meaning that some wheat was present in the loaf (the PCR test does not provide a quantitative result).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Mrs Bread Care test results are positive for the presence of wheat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ELISA tests showed that gluten was present (see table below), at levels of between 27 and 36 ppm, which is consistent with contamination. Note that ppm means parts per million, which is the same unit as mg\/kg. This means that while wheat flour was not used as an ingredient, some gluten ended up in the final product, either because an ingredient was contaminated with traces of wheat flour, or because of contamination with wheat flour during the baking process itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Mrs Bread Care loaf tests positive for gluten at low levels indicating contamination.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a dramatic improvement from the first tests done on a loaf purchased in late 2016 which showed that the level of gluten in the loaf was consistent with what would be expected if it was made using only wheat flour. Those initial tests showed more than 80,000 ppm gluten or 8g\/100g.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In summary, while the Mrs Bread Care loaf sent from BONM did not have wheat flour as a primary ingredient, it did contain traces of wheat as well as gluten. It therefore cannot be labelled or verbally called \u201cgluten-free\u201d as that claim is not permitted for a food that contains 20 ppm (mg\/kg) or more of gluten. People suffering from celiac disease or a wheat allergy would not able to eat this loaf.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we welcome the improvements in the labelling of this product since our investigation began, <\/span>the label of the latest product we tested does not comply with R146<\/a>, as is required by law.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the primary descriptor (product name) must accurately describe the product or must be supplemented with a clear secondary descriptor that qualifies the primary, so “cauliflower spinach” is not enough and it must state that it is bread. Also, a quantitative ingredient declaration (QUID) must be made when the name of a compound ingredient appears in the name of the product. \u00a0This means that the percentage of cauliflower, and of spinach, should appear on the label. Information such as country of origin, manufacturer\u2019s physical address, and a date must also be included. <\/span><\/p>\n

We have been informed that BONM is working with the producer, Dalia Tzror, to ensure compliance with the regulations and an accurate label for consumers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Note that we have been told that the label has been changed again since our latest test, so some of the above may have been addressed. The TOPIC team will revisit the Mrs Bread Care investigation at a later date again to monitor progress, and keep you all informed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOPIC concluded the investigation into Mrs Bread Care’s Cauliflower Spinach Protein Bread at the end of March 2017 and we published our findings to consumers in our blog post here: http:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/mrs-bread-care-protein-bread On the 4th of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,22,2],"tags":[21,17,8,9,16,18,19,20,11,12],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banting","category-gluten-free","category-low-carb","tag-accurate-labels","tag-banting-bread","tag-labelling","tag-labelling-laws","tag-low-carb-bread","tag-low-carbohydrate","tag-low-carbohydrate-bread","tag-mrs-bread-care","tag-south-africa","tag-transparency"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topicsa.org.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}