What's Up with Udi's Holey Gluten-Free Bread?

I was so excited to find the large loaves of Udi's Multi Grain gluten-free bread at Costco a few weeks ago. I spent $6.99, which I thought was a bargain at the time, for the big loaf. It was only when I got home did I realize that HALF THE LOAF was broken! It wasn't even really salvageable because not only were these slices broken, but there was a huge hole down the middle of these 10 slices... if I can even call them that! They were more like a broken bag of soft croutons. There was no full slice to be seen in this section of the loaf. 

Here is what Udi's had to say in response to me posting the picture above on my Instagram page.

I was frustrated by this response. This was now going to be my THIRD time that I am contacting Udi's about a problem with their products. I've had problems with holey bread. I've had problems with hole-less bagels. When I pay anywhere from $4.99-$7.99 for bread or bagels, I expect higher quality. I did exactly what Suzanne suggested above and contacted Udi's with the picture of the Costco loaf along with these pictures from previous negative experiences.

Let's play guess the #glutenfree bread brand. Hint: holes through more than half the loaf to the point of crumbs. pic.twitter.com/BSLj6E4kCa
— Erin Smith (@gfreefun) June 19, 2014

@udisglutenfree I'm a fan but this is a #glutenfree bagel fail. Looks more like a misfit croissant. pic.twitter.com/VQO38PJphr
— Erin Smith (@gfreefun) April 3, 2014

As I did more digging, I realized I had posted multiple Udi's fails to my social media before.

Hey @udisglutenfree, what's up with this holey bread? So disappointing at $5.99 a loaf. #GlutenFree #Fail pic.twitter.com/jnh6NbYgvI
— Erin Smith (@gfreefun) August 13, 2013

@gfreefun: Hey @udisglutenfree, are these bagels or hamburger buns? Kind of disappointing purchase. #glutenfree pic.twitter.com/enENNyIl
— Erin Smith (@gfreefun) February 19, 2013

This is getting downright frustrating. I post the most obvious product failures, but it is becoming too many to count. On my first two emails to Udi's, I was sent free coupons for future products. Great. I can try more broken products but appreciated the gesture. I was hoping my third email with photo evidence of the faulty products would bring about more of a response as well as a solution to the problem. No such luck!

Here is what Udi's/Boulder Brands had to say just last week:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us here at Udi's. We always appreciate hearing from consumers who care enough to reach out to us with their comments or questions.
We regret that you had a negative experience with our Udi's Whole Grain Bread. Thank you for providing the packaging coding and photo so our Quality Control Department can look into this further. 

We are passionate about offering the highest quality gluten free products that bring joy to our customers. The holes in our loaves of bread can be caused by a natural enzyme reaction with gluten free ingredients, we’ve invested in new equipment and just moved into a brand new facility to help address this. We thank you for your patience while we continue to strive for the best product possible. 

We sincerely apologize and hope you will give us another chance. We are sending you two coupons for free UDI's product of your choice. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we're also sharing your comments with the appropriate departments within our organization. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us.

Great, more coupons for a crappy product. I refuse to buy anymore Udi's until they fix this problem. In the meantime, I will use the free coupons. Hey, what's free is FREE! Let's hope this next loaf is usable for sandwiches and not a really expensive bag of gluten-free bird seed/bread crumbs. I do hope that Udi's new facility helps address this issue and that the holey bread goes away real fast.

What do you think? Do you still buy Udi's gluten-free products? Are you getting fed up too? I would love to hear from you in the comments below!

Dunkin' Donuts Goes Gluten-Free

For months now, the gluten-free blogosphere has been buzzing with talk of gluten-free products at Dunkin' Donuts. People in MA and FL have been Tweeting out pictures of the gluten-free, pre-packaged donuts. About two weeks ago, this news hit the mainstream media and everyone has been going crazy over this news. Some people love the idea of being able to get a donut or muffin at D&D, others were worried about cross-contamination, while others feel that this is another gluten-free junk food on the market.

Personally, I was really excited to see the gluten-free cinnamon donuts and blueberry muffins when I went to Dunkin' Donuts a month ago in Connecticut. The pre-packaged, certified gluten-free products were on the counter in a separate basket and were clearly marked. It felt so "normal" to buy an iced coffee and a donut. Would I buy this every day? HELL NO (See calorie, fat, and sodium count below) but it was a really nice treat to buy to have along with my iced coffee.

The biggest concern gluten-free folks had about these products was the risk of cross-contamination. I can report that these products were all pre-packaged and had the "Certified GF" stamp on the back of the package. I did write to Dunkin' Donuts to ask specifically about this certification but they wrote me back about the products being kosher and not gluten-free. They did include the ingredients so here is the email and the information that I have so far. If I learn more about the certification, I will follow-up here on my blog.

Thank you for taking the time to contact Dunkin' Donuts. In response to your email, all of our gluten free products are Kosher Parve Certified by United Mehadrin Kosher.I have attached a copy of the nutritional information for our gluten free products for you to look at. We hope to have theses in store by the end of 2013. Please stay tuned for them in stores and keep checking www.DunkinDonuts.com for more information. 

Again, this doesn't address how the gluten-free products are made but I can tell you from experience they are pre-packaged. See product below.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Cake Donut

Ingredients: Donut: Palm Oil, Rice Flour, Eggs, Egg Whites, Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch,  Sugar, Soybean Oil, Defatted Soy Flour, Contains less than 2% of the following: Leavening 

(Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Dextrose, Modified Corn Starch, Filtered Water, Natural Vanilla Flavor, Salt, Gum Arabic, Soy Lecithin, Spices,  Xanthan Gum, Sucralose; Topping: Sugar, Cinnamon, Colored with Caramel Color.

Contains: Egg, Soy

320 calories, 22g fat, 440mg sodium 

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin

Ingredients: Muffin: Sugar, Eggs, Wild Blueberries, Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch, Rice Flour,  Soybean Oil, Filtered Water, Defatted Soy Flour, Contains less than 2% of the following:  Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Aluminum Sulfate), Modified Corn  Starch, Salt, Guar Gum, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Blueberry Flavor, Natural and Artificial Butter  Flavor, Sorbitan Monostearate, Polysorbate 60, Mono and Diglycerides, Propylene Glycol;  Topping: Sugar.

Contains: Egg, Soy

400 calories, 12g fat, 670mg sodium

The calorie counts and grams of fat are HIGH, so this would only be a sweet treat from time to time for me. I only saw these in CT but haven't seen them in NYC yet. Are they in your local Dunkin' Donuts? Have you had these gluten-free products yet? Would you try them?