**DISCLAIMER***
All information in this post was correct at the time of publishing (2017) – this was a very long time ago, and things change since then. Unfortunately since then, I have moved to a town where we don’t have a Greggs store, so I can’t physically investigate this to update it.
As a person in the coeliac online community, all I can suggest is that people continue to ask questions when purchasing gluten free food, and ALWAYS be vigilant when checking ingredients labels. And follow the advice and guidance from Coeliac UK.
So a week ago, I got told that Greggs are doing gluten free porridge, that their oats are gluten free and the supplier of them take every care to avoid contamination. Now, it’s nice of them. Especially when they have their gluten free brownie bites, and their toffee popcorn bites. But while I was grabbing a breakfast before work last week, I popped into Greggs and got one of these porridge pots. I sat down with it, and read the label.
The allergy warning on there reads, “Made in a production area that uses…” and it says amongst other things, CEREALS CONTAINING GLUTEN.
Now, I know to avoid products that have a ‘may contain’ warning, like Walkers, Doritos, Dairy milk etc… Because they’re probably made on the same production line, and everybody knows they’re not safe. So these probably are not safe at all to eat.
I contacted both Greggs, and Coeliac UK about this. Coeliac UK said that they would not reccomend this product and said they would be contacting Greggs. I am using my common sense here and taking this as a note to avoid it.
Meanwhile, Greggs haven’t got back to me about the product only that they are ‘looking into it’. I keep asking if they have looked into it and every time, they say “We will get back to you today.”
I personally don’t know how Greggs can label this product gluten free. If it said ‘poison free’ but the allergen warning on the back said, “Made on the production line as poison” nobody would eat it.
I don’t think I will go into Greggs anymore, and even when I have bought their brownie bites in the past, there hasn’t been any allergy information on there, just a label saying ‘gluten free’.
So lesson learned. ALWAYS read the labels.
I will post an update if Greggs ever get back to me, so keep an eye out on my social media channels for this.
The Coeliac Sloth 