<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
We recently had a Penzeys Spices store open up in our city, and I
couldn't wait to go there, since I've drooled over their catalog for
so many years. I didn't order them, only because I just didn't
anyone else who has gotten them. I figured, being able to go into
the store and smell them would convince me -- and it did! We walked
out with almost $50 in spices, with the reassurance of the store
manager that everything in their spices is clearly on the label.
There were a few things I could not have, but these ingredients were
on the labels.
So, I brought them home -- and made a couple of dishes using their
spices. I've been having a horrible reaction to something over the
past several days, and I could not pin it down to anything except
what I'd cooked with the Penzeys Spices -- two dishes, on two
different nights, actually, using 3 of their spice blends. I tried
to check up on everything I ate during that time, with the spices the
last on my list, because Penzeys has such a good reputation. I also
checked the list archives, only to find the same information that the
store manager told me -- that, unless it's on the label, it's OK.
I called this morning. The answer? None of their spices have gluten
products unless they are printed on the ingredient label, and they do
not use flour to sprinkle on any of their belts. With one ... uh ...
EXCEPTION: the supplier they use for GARLIC uses flour on their
conveyer belt to keep the garlic from sticking. YIKES! Half of what
we bought has garlic in it, including the 3 blends that I ate. Boy
oh boy. I have to say, the company was very nice about it, and when
I called the store manage today, she said I could bring back all the
spices that I bought that contained garlic. She felt terrible that
they made me sick. She remembered telling me that they were OK for
me to buy.
I can now vouch, however, for the fact that they have really great
spices -- and many of them do not contain garlic. They are at:
http://penzeys.com/
I think I will be writing a letter to their corporate office,
however, to make sure they get this information out to their stores
and to their telephone order takers. They only have 17 stores, so it
can't be that big of a deal to take care of it. (Or so it seems to
me! LOL!)
-Suzanne
*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*
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