For whatever reason, I've never ordered, used or reviewed a gluten detection product in the past. There have been a couple of such products on the market for a while now, but I've never felt the need to use one. However, I was recently offered the chance to receive the newest gluten test kit for free, in exchange for a review of it. Naturally, I accepted the offer! I've always wondered how well such products work, but not enough to fork out good money to find out.
My GlutenTox kit arrived just before Christmas and so far I've only tested one product. I gave quite some thought to what products I would test. I wanted to find something that I know some people are hesitant to try, for whatever reason. I finally decided on the new Snickerdoodles cookies from Trader Joe's. The reality is that GIG certifies the TJ gluten-free items (or at least some of them as shown in their current certified product handbook), but some people don't like the fact that the products carry only a 'g' symbol, which at TJ's denotes only that the product is made without gluten ingredients. There is no mention of 'gluten-free' anywhere on the items.
The packaging of GlutenTox is very professional and the instructions are VERY easy to understand and follow. You basically follow the steps given, in order, and in about 20 minutes, you have your result. You can test for either 20 ppm or for 5 ppm. I chose to use the 20ppm method. As expected, the Snickerdoodles from Trader Joe's (their store brand with the 'g' no gluten ingredients symbol on the box) tested gluten-free. I was not surprised since I enjoy such items from that store on a regular basis.
Since this is the only testing product I've ever used, I can't speak to how it stacks up to similar items. I can only say that using this kit could not be easier and an intelligent six year old (who can read) could use it successfully. It doesn't get much easier than that!
More about GlutenTox (and a discount code!) from the company:
With GlutenTox Home you can quickly and reliably check for gluten in foods, liquids, and personal products/cosmetics:
• Easily detect gluten from wheat, barley, rye and oat with the G12 antibody
• Adjustable sensitivity: choose 5ppm or 20ppm
• Results in less than 20 minutes
• No special equipment required
• Qualified Medical Expense for HSA, HRA, FSA account holders
GlutenTox Home is found in select stores, including New Vitality Health Foods in Orland Park, IL and Strictly Gluten Free in East Northport, NY. It's also available online at glutentox.com — where you can enter the code GF2012 to receive free shipping until noon (EST) on January 20th, 2012.
