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It was really too good to be true. A delicous millet and flax bread that was gluten-free and not dried out.
I am sadly reporting that Sami's Breads of Tampa, Florida are not gluten-free.
Many of us have been buying Sami's at our local stores and have had no reactions to the bread. Others have reported severe reactions. After the products were sent for testing, it appears that Sami's products do contain gluten.
Many of the local area health food stores have pulled Sami's from their shelves. Cindy Erwin of the Gluten Free Grocery in Westchester, Illinois recently sent out an email to her customers letting them know that they will no longer be carrying the product line, which was one of her best sellers.
Cindy's email stated , "According to a Sami’s employee, their products were recently tested for gluten and they came back higher than the standard 20ppm. As a result, we cannot continue to suggest to our customers that this is a gluten-free product. Please note, the product ingredients do not contain gluten, but the cross-contamination of their facility is what increased the number. According to the same employee, they are not considering creating a dedicated gluten-free facility." Kudos to Cindy for staying on top of this matter!
To learn about great tasting gluten-free bread that is actually gluten-free click here.
Comments
Glad to see you're spreading the word. Sami's and Deland's have been making people sick for years. In 2005, their products were tested and the FDA ordered them to include a "contains traces of wheat and gluten" sticker on the millet bread.
I confiscated a bag from a customer once. She was confused because a health food store told her the label was just a formality and that usually stores would remove the label from bags before they were sold to avoid "confusing" the customers.
Who knows how much damage has been done to celiacs who don't show an outward reaction to gluten, but who still suffer internal damage with exposure?
I work as a GF Product Specialist in Atlanta, Ga and I have not brought in Sami's products even though I have had a number of requests due to the cross contamination issues.
Thanks very much for this article. Like the others have said, this is not new info. Several years ago testing showed Sami's bread was not gluten free. I had just seen some info posted about it being gf the other day and thought, has something changed? But, no, it clearly has not and is not going to if they don't plan to use a dedicted facility. It makes me angry that people continue to be duped into buying their bread. I will pass this info on to my support group immediately just in case there are any newbies who have found it (or more likely been directed to it) after my previous warnings.
Shirley
We were able to sample Sami's gluten-free cookies in South FL on vacation. According to the owner, the cookies and brownies ONLY are made in a separate room, are gluten-free (or they were in May 2009) and labeled as such. My husband liked the cookies but I didn't care for them. As stated above the bread products are not gluten-free, to say the least. Our support group leader (Tom Flynn) in Atlanta recently found the lastest test results (on celiac forum) for Sami's bread products and the tests came back around 5000 ppm.
The fact that a celebrity book about the gf diet lists Sami's flax crackers in the back has only further confused people about this product line.
My daughter does not have celiac's but IS sensitive to gluten and does well with the bread, as do two of her friends?? I called and have read the stuff written here. Maybe people like her who are sensitive do OK with Sami's but more severe cases should be careful?? We like it and she is able to have a lunch daily at school.
Vic Little - I know you think your daughter isn't reacting to the gluten in the Sami's Bread, but she might be and you just aren't seeing any symptoms. Sami's has high levels of gluten. Try Udi's or Katz's for a nice sandwich bread instead.
Ok - so for celiacs, the sami's does not work BUT I read the ingredients in Udi's bread and there is sugar, yeast and corn starch! For folks with some gluten sensitivity and not Celiacs, I think that Sami's is a healthier choice. Celiacs consume far more sugar and other not so healthy ingredients in trying to get products that taste good. I don't ever remember Sami's claiming to be gluten free. Their ingredients are simple and there is no sugar in their breads.
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