<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I had an interesting conversation with the customer service people at
McCormick's. Turns out that any product that is NOT GF will have the
ingredient listed on the label. When they say blends it actually means
things like their flavoring packets that are in the aluminum foil
packets and NOT the spice blends such as Italian Mix, Curry, Chili, etc.

I actually called three times(the first time was concerning another
product line--Spice Classic) and found out that this was part of
McCormicks (I am not sure of the exact relationship, but apparently
McCormicks owns the company that produces the Spice Classic brand). Was
told all their products were gf EXCEPT some of the blends were NOT GF.
So called back a second time with a list of items to verify. The person
at the other end told me to look at the label of the product I was
questioning and I should see only spices listed. This is when I got into
the discussion about the spices and finally was told that when someone
at McCormicks talks about the blends they are not talking about their
spice line (ie in the bottles/cans) but a mixture that is sold in the
foil packets. These would very clearly state if it contained an
ingredient like wheat flour/starch, etc. My comment back was they need
to tell people this instead of just stating that some of the "blends"
are not gf, as a group we are use to checking labels and that telling us
how to check for ourselves is much better.

We also discussed about the fact that there is misinformation going
around saying McCormick's curry powder was not gf and they did not know
how to ensure the correct information was disseminated. I suggested they
post gf information on the web. Explain what products were NOT gf, flat
out say the curry powder IS gf, etc, etc.

The third call was made because of I got one message after I posted the
original Spice Classic/McCormick spice message asking about possible
cross contamination at McCormick's.

I called back McCormick's to get more information. The spices in the
bottles/jars are done on one line and the aluminum foil packets (the
blends) are done on a seperate line (with the extracts bottled in a
seperate building). The two lines are on opposite ends of the building.
There is not a wall between the areas, however they have a special
filtration system in the factory that is designed to collect any
particles that would escape when the mixture is poured into the
packaging machine. They also carefully clean the machines between runs.
Since the customer rep had a tour of the plant as part of her
indoctrination I asked her if she felt/saw anything floating around. She
said no, she just had problems with fumes from the pepper that was being
ground/packaged that particular day. Even with goggles she had problems
with her contacts.

Based on this conversation I am not concerned about cross contamination
of the spices, however I don't have an opinion about the blends (ie the
items in the foil packets) because I would want to be more certain that
there was a THOROUGH cleaning between the runs (I asked if
anyone/someone could have a tour and was told they did NOT give tours to
ANYONE from outside the company because of liability. That is when she
told me her experience with the pepper). In McCormick's favor they do
seem to be aware of problems from allergies, intolerances and so
hopefully would try to be as careful as possible. They also pride
themselves on producing high quality products and having cross
contamination between 2 products would mix flavors which does not fit
what I know about the company.

I hope this makes it easier to use their spices. I only have a local
number (410-527-6188) since the facory is about 15 miles from my house.
(I sure miss when they were located downtown, it was such a pleasure to
be walking around and smell the cinnamon, etc. After pollution control
it was not possible to smell what they were packaging each day, however
periodically they would apparently get permission to release some
"scented" air and it was so nice. I was told they still get comments
like mine even though they have been gone from downtown for over 10-15
years).

Betsey Carus
Baltimore, MD USA