Ep 176 Gluten Free Certification with BRCGS
A Conversation with Jon Murthy
Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –
On this episode I speak with Jon Murthy, Head of Global Marketing for BRCGS. This is the organization that certifies foods for the CCA gluten free logo, as part of their many certification programs. Originally, this operation was performed by a relatively small, but knowledgeable group in Canada, but moving this important function to a multi-national, multi-discipline certification body, brings an entirely new perspective to gluten free food safety. Jon discusses the process a company must go through to achieve certification, as well as the complexities of companies producing and exporting ingredients and prepared foods to maintain their certification status. This global perspective is a complicated concept, but BRCGS certainly seems up to the international challenge.
You can find out more about BRCGS at https://www.brcgs.com/
You can also get more information about food recalls on Canadian Celiac Association website under the Living Gluten Free tab.
Sue’s Websites and Social Media –
Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com
Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com
My Thoughts –
Two things hold true. We all get excited when we see foods we usually buy, especially gluten free foods on sale; and, we universally complain about the cost of gluten free foods.
We all want the portion of our budgets devoted to grocery store foods, to be as little as possible, and when it comes to gluten free foods, they often take a big bite out of our budgets.
I remember when I operated my gluten free bakery, I worked hard to source gluten free ingredients, and that often meant having the ingredients tested before they arrived at my shop. This led to relatively narrow supply lines, something that regular gluten bakeries don’t experience. In my bakery, we regularly used ten different gluten free flours.
This is just one example of the complexities of producing gluten free as compared to “regular” food. Gluten free takes more care, that’s just the nature of making food safe for those with food restrictions. Besides checking all the ingredients, more care includes things like –
- meeting labelling requirements for gluten free
- ensuring all packaging materials entering the facility have not been exposed to flour or gluten
- ensuring all cleaning products and materials used on site are free from gluten
- sourcing smaller batch ingredients for consistent quality and gluten content (i.e. it’s relatively easy to find nuts labelled gluten free in the grocery store, but much harder to find them in 5kg boxes)
- ensuring deliveries of tested, safe ingredients are not contaminated with gluten in the truck delivering them to my door
- ensuring the staff entering the bakery do not bring in any foods containing gluten, even crumbs on their clothes
More care directly translates into cost for the producer. Larger food producers have their own cost issues with dedicated production and packaging lines. Without even mentioning the cost of gluten free certification, it’s clear to see that producing safe gluten free food costs more from the beginning. We all like to see the certification symbols on products, but those also have a cost. Reading labels is easier with a gluten free symbol. We accept that we have to pay more for gluten free foods, but it does ease the burden, if only slightly when we understand why.