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When dedicating specific processing lines, the separation from
other manufacturing lines is quite important. Walls or heavy plastic
barriers are an effective means of separation. Sometimes, shared
processing lines and equipment must be used. In those situations,
Allergen-Free Success Stories
Several companies have had success in the manufacturing and marketing of “
free-from” foods. Here are a few:
• Edward and Sons ( www.edwardandsons.com), offers a wide range of
allergen-free products from gluten-free candies to dairy-free mac and
cheese. All gluten-free products are tested by an independent lab,
specified at 10 ppm. All factories must fill out all allergen questionnaires we send so that we have all info on other products they may
produce in their facility. Their “chreese” dairy-free cheese substitute is
available in bulk.
• Arrowhead Mills, a division of Hain-Celestial ( www.hain-celestial.com) manufactures and sells a range of gluten-free and organic products including baking and
dessert mixes, flours and pancake and waffle mixes. For example, they have Organic
Buckwheat Flour, Organic Millet Flour, Organic Blue Corn Meal, Organic Yellow Corn
Meal, Organic Soy Flour, and Organic White Rice Flour—all are gluten-free. They also
have an organic, gluten-free Wild Rice Pancake and Waffle Mix. Arrowhead Mills maintains an in-house laboratory and conducts regular gluten testing to assure that their
products are gluten-free.
• Amy’s Kitchen ( www.amyskitchen.com) offers a wide
range of convenience foods in several “free” categories.
These foods are also organic. Amy’s offers more than 60
gluten-free products and tests to assure that they have
less than 20 ppm gluten, a limit that has been proposed as
the definition of gluten-free in the U.S. Amy’s Kitchen also
markets dairy-free products containing no lactose or milk
protein and thus suitable for consumers with lactose intol-
erance or milk allergy.
• Home Free Treats ( www.homefreetreats.com) offers a range of
shelf-stable cookies and made-to-order cakes that are manufactured
in a dedicated facility free from allergens including peanuts, tree nuts,
eggs, dairy and wheat. Products are rigorously tested for allergens and
company policy even requires that employees must not eat or handle
anything with allergens on the day they are scheduled to work.
• Terra Nostra Organic ( www.terranostrachocolate.com) also just
launched a Ricemilk Choco Bar which is labeled both “gluten-free”
and “no dairy ingredients.” All of their chocolate is made in a dedicated gluten-free facility.
• Mary's Gone Crackers (MGC) ( www.marys
gonecrackers.com) was founded by Mary Waldner
after realizing both she and her son suffered from
celiac. Today MGC is one of the largest producers
of gluten-free products, and is a top seller in the
overall natural cracker category. All of Mary's
crackers are produced in a wheat-free, gluten-free,
nut-free, organic and kosher dedicated facility.
scheduling can be a critical strategy.
Make the “free” product first after a
major clean-up, and then manufacture products that contain allergens
(e.g. milk first, then egg and milk,
and then egg and milk and
almond). When using shared equipment, effective sanitation to remove
allergen residues is clearly essential.
Some equipment is very difficult to
make “allergen-clean” especially
when water is not allowed for use in
sanitation. Bakery, dry blending and
chocolate manufacturing would be
examples of operations that must be
dry cleaned. Alternatively, operations where Clean-In-Place systems
are utilized can be much more effectively shared between allergen-containing and “free” products. Testing
can be used to verify the effectiveness of allergen control programs
and especially sanitation in shared
use facilities.
The Role of Allergen Testing
When making “free” claims on
food products, analytical verification
of the “free” status of the products is
probably a wise step. As noted above,
allergen testing can be used to
determine if ingredients meet the
“free” specifications that are so critical to success. Allergen testing is also
important in shared use facilities to
assure that no cross contact occurs
with allergen-containing products.
Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent
Assays or ELISAs are the test methods of choice for allergens. ELISAs
can detect trace residues of proteins
from various allergenic sources in a
highly specific manner. Since allergens are proteins, ELISAs are detecting the most relevant component of
the food. Commercial ELISA kits are
available for many of the common
allergenic foods including gluten,
peanut, milk, egg, almond, hazelnut,
soybean flour and crustacean shellfish. ELISAs are available in several
formats including 96-well quantita-
