8 June 2015

Some of you may have seen press reports about the recall of several gluten-free products that were manufactured in a factory owned by the Genius Foods company. We understand that you may feel very concerned about the issue and want to share with you what we know and what the implications may be.

A number of Genius, Livwell and gluten-free own brand products for UK supermarkets, all made in the same factory, were found to contain low levels of gluten. See the list of affected products below.

We have had initial discussions with Genius to understand the cause of the contamination and what steps are being taken to address the issue and protect consumers. From the discussions, Genius told us that the cause has been identified and isolated and an investigation is underway. Genius confirmed to us that all products leaving the factory while the investigation is ongoing will be subject to heightened checks and quality assurance procedures on every batch before releasing for sale. We know Genius are working hard to rectify the situation and we will continue to be in active dialogue with them to understand what steps are being taken to assess and rectify the situation.

The level of gluten is understood to be between 5 and 80 parts per million, which is a very low level of contamination and highly unlikely to cause an ongoing health risk. If you have had symptoms from consuming these products and would like advice or assistance on what to do, please call our Helpline on 0845 305 2060. We urge any consumers who have purchased the affected products to return the products to the retailer where they purchased the product/s to obtain a full refund.

We understand that this situation may cause our Members and others with coeliac disease to be less confident in the purchasing of gluten-free products. Our understanding from Genius is that this is an isolated incident. Should there be any lessons learnt that could benefit other gluten-free manufacturers, we will make sure these are shared.

We will keep you informed as any new information comes to light, and make sure steps are taken within the industry to ensure this does not occur again.

List of affected gluten-free products as of 8 June 2015