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Subject:
From:
"Thorn, Michael" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Thorn, Michael
Date:
Fri, 1 Sep 2006 08:34:11 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>


Please contact the Jay Bigam, VP of Kinnikinnick Foods Inc. with any
comments. His email is [log in to unmask]

Part 2. Customer service at Kinnikinnick Foods.
---------------------------------------
I would like to address the comment that "Kinnikinnick customer service
is horrible and doesn't seem to care about customer reactions to their
products". We take great pride in our customer service and we take every
concern regarding our ingredients very seriously. As far as we know, we
are the first dedicated gluten free facility in the world to have it's
own gluten testing lab. This lab was opened in our new K2 Facility in
June of this year. In addition the standard food safety issues such as
microbiological testing and quality assurance, our Food Scientist
performs regular testing of our ingredients using the Elisa Gluten
Assay. This is the same test that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(CFIA) and the University of Nebraska use. It provides the highest
standard of gluten detection possible with current technology and is
many times more sensitive than the Gluten Quick Test that many companies
use. This testing is expensive but we do this simply because our
customers deserve it.

We track all issues brought up by our customers and in the last 6 years,
I have records of 3 concerns about Inulin in our products, 2 of which
were simply inquiries regarding it's source. (Inulin can be made from
wheat. Ours is from chicory). If there have been " (40+) responses
[about] severe reactions to Kinnikinnick K'Too's", we are not hearing
them.

If, in fact, there are people having issues with the KinniToos or any
other of our products, we do want to hear about it. We are very
proactive in trying to look after the health of our customers. We added
vitamins and minerals to our breads and buns as soon as we were allowed
to by government regulation. We removed trans fats from our product line
in February of 2004, long before most people had even heard of trans
fats. We removed dairy from most of our products because many Celiacs
are dairy intolerant and the GFCF diet for Autism has become a
successful strategy for many. We removed soy from many of our products
due to customer requests. In fact, we added Inulin to many of our
products because we believe it provides people many health benefits and
are specifically beneficial to Celiacs.

It's important to remember that we are, first and foremost, a company
that produces gluten free food. Some of the ingredients we use make it
impossible for some people to eat our products. When we removed soy from
some of our products, we replaced it with pea protein, which is less of
an issue for most people. However, there were several customers we heard
from who were now unable to eat those products due to allergies to peas.
For the most part however, the switch has been widely applauded.

We listen to every customer's concerns about their individual dietary
issues. Can we make a product for everyone? No. We would love to be able
to produce products that every single person could eat without issue but
that is an impossible task. All we can do is make a great tasting,
gluten free product that most people can eat and enjoy. This is what we
strive for everyday.

I hope this answers some of the concerns raised and if anyone has any
questions, please don't hesitate to contact me via email at
[log in to unmask]

Best Regards,

Jay Bigam
Executive Vice President
Kinnikinnick Foods Inc.




* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *
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