For Teeccino’s Mediterranean and Maya flavors, the question of whether brewed Teeccino contains gluten from the barley is more complicated. We went to the top gluten-testing laboratory in the country, The University of Nebraska, to have the most sensitive gluten-detecting test performed on brewed Teeccino.
The FDA has set a threshold of no more that 20 parts per million of gluten in a food or drink that is marketed as gluten-free. The University of Nebraska is able to test down to the level of 5 parts per million, the lowest testable level at which gluten can be detected. The test results showed no detectable gluten in brewed Teeccino containing barley.
Susan Hefle, Ph.D., who was the co-director of the Food Allergy and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska, wrote the following opinion: “It is my expert opinion that since glutens are alcohol-soluble, an aqueous solution, such as brewed tea, should not contain gluten even if the source material that was brewed did contain gluten.” Read her entire letter here.
However, it is possible that some gluten-sensitive people will still have a reaction to Teeccino’s barley-containing blends. There could be fractions of gluten present in the brewed liquid from those blends. Although we have some Teeccino drinkers with celiac disease that report they drink our barley-containing blends without a problem, we have others who can’t do so without suffering a reaction.
We caution anyone with gluten-sensitivity to be careful when drinking Teeccino’s barley-containing blends and to watch for symptoms associated with their own tolerance or lack of tolerance.
