Sokołów products with a crossed grain symbol
Selected products from Sokołów have earned a licensed Crossed Grain symbol. This is a recognized symbol of gluten-free food products awarded by the Polish Coeliac Society. The sign confirms that a given product has been tested for gluten content, and the entire manufacturing process meets specific requirements. The list of licensed products from Sokołów includes as many as 100 items, amongst others kabanos sausages and other meat snacks, hams, Sopocka sirloin, wieners and hummuses.
Daily diet without gluten
According to research about 1% of the entire population suffer from coeliac disease. It used to be erroneously recognized as a rare childhood disease. Coeliac disease has genetic background and is characterized by gluten intolerance that lasts for life. It is the most serious food intolerance and requires being continuously on a strict gluten-free diet. This is also required when one is allergic to gluten. Gluten is one of substances that most frequently cause allergies. According to various estimates, 10 to 25% of people with food allergies are allergic to that protein.
Having in mind those suffering from the coeliac disease and from gluten allergy, the Sokołów company makes efforts to gain the Crossed Grain symbol for a wide range of products. ‘We want to make sure that people with special dietary requirements also can choose something for themselves from our range of products,’ said Marcin Bałanda, PR and Communications Director at Sokołów S.A. ‘We direct our attention also to the customers who need to eliminate gluten from their daily diet. We want to provide them with access to tasty, high-quality cold cuts and other products offered by Sokołów.’
Crossed Grain - quality and safety standards
In order to obtain the right to use the Crossed Grain symbol, one needs to follow many rigorous procedures. Production needs to be made consistent with standards set by the Association of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS). The entire manufacturing process (starting from raw materials and semi-finishing products through manufacturing, packaging to distribution) needs to be organized in a way excluding any contamination with gluten. Finished gluten-free products are tested at an accredited laboratory for gluten presence. The manufacturing plant must pass an audit conducted by authorized representatives of the Polish Coeliac Society.
After the entire process is formally completed, the Crossed Grain certificate will be applied on the packages of 100 products of the Sokołów company. The first certified products are available already now. Their range will be successively extended. The process of introducing products onto the market is carried out step by step, as the batches manufactured earlier are sold out. The following products, amongst others, have received the Crossed Grain certificate: Sokoliki hams, wieners and kabanos sausages, French and De Luxe kabanos sausages, Ham wieners and sausages, Salami chips, Stówki wieners, Raw smoked bacon slices, Basiuni ham, Sopocka sirloin, Processed ham, Kindziuk sausage, Sarmatian ham, Sarmatian pork neck, Beef jerky, Chrup’us chips. This group includes also products belonging to the Z Gruntu Dobre vegetable line - hummuses and pastes.
‘At Sokołów we make every effort to meet each and every need of our customers,’ said Marcin Bałanda, PR and Communications Director at Sokołów S.A. ‘We extend on a current basis the range of our products, and as we take the advantage of new technological possibilities, we can modify the compositions of our products. Last year we removed artificial preservatives from the Sokoliki range of products for children. We have also a nature-inspired line of cold cuts named Naturrino. Now, as we have obtained the Crossed Grain certificate, we guarantee to our customers with coeliac disease and to those on a gluten-free diet that the mentioned Sokołów products are 100% safe for them.’
A list of products with the certificate can be downloaded as a PDF file.