You may have seen in your local store or read on the internet that Van’s, the company that’s been making delicious gluten-free frozen waffles for years, recently introduced two new products – Cinnamon French Toast Sticks and Homestyle Pancakes. Unfortunately, these new products are labeled gluten-free but list malt extract (from barley) in the ingredient list, rendering them unsafe for celiacs.
Tricia Thompson, MS, RD, a nutrition consultant and author who writes really superb articles about living with celiac disease, spoke with Van’s officials on a conference call and reports on her blog that from now on, the company will no longer use malt extract in these new products. She quotes a statement from Van’s: “We have decided to remove malt extract from these two products. We anticipate this change will take place with our next production.” Van’s also said there has never been any barley malt in their waffles.
Tricia commends Van’s for their prompt response, and I agree. As Tricia writes, this is really a company that cares about their customers. She explains in her blog why there was so much confusion over barley malt extract.
For the near future, at least, if you see these products in your store, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got the boxes that were shipped after the ingredient change was implemented.
