Oreo Just Announced Great News For Gluten-Free Cookie Lovers
Oreo Cookies has announced on its Twitter account that as of January 2021, they will offer two types of gluten-free cookies wherever Oreos are sold. The varieties, OREO Gluten-Free cookies and OREO Double Stuf Gluten-Free, will serve as permanent additions to the Oreo portfolio.
In a statement acquired by Food & Wine, Oreo explained that they are "always looking to welcome more people to experience the playfulness of Oreo cookies. We have been planning the launch of our Gluten-Free cookies for some time and are excited to give more fans the opportunity to experience the playfulness of Oreo cookies beginning in January 2021." To ensure that these gluten-free Oreos are truly gluten-free, Oreo has had their new products certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Authority which, as FoodBeast writes, despite its lack of authority has a harsher gluten-free definition than either the FDA or the EU.
While the rationale behind this push may be to appeal to the ongoing trendiness of gluten-free products, a fad Food & Wine begin their piece by noting, the real beneficiaries of these unveiling are those with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity three demographics described by Stanford University's The Dish on Science as people "who actually need gluten free." So now they too can enjoy what Delish once reported as the world's best-selling cookie, showing a more profound shift from the days when gluten-free snacks were near impossible to find.
Oreo is expanding its demographic
As of writing, the FAQs page for Oreo UK has to update its answer for whether Oreos are gluten-free. More interestingly, however, is the range of demographics that they address in their answers. While they maintain that they are vegetarian friendly and nut-free, they state that they are not defined as kosher or halal nor are they necessarily suitable for vegans.
The last threw Sarah Weinberg, deputy editor for Delish, through a bit of a loop. Writing in Delish, she notes the widespread reputation Oreo enjoys for being vegan. After all, their "creme" is specifically spelled that way to keep people from suspecting that the center is made with milk. In the UK, they can't be considered strictly vegan because they are created in places that also process milk, and so can't rule out the possibility of cross-contamination. Unsure about the U.S.'s Oreos, Redditors pestered Mondelez, the company that owns Oreo, until they received a letter confirming that Oreos are not strictly vegan for the same reasons.
Of course, as Everything Vegan reasons, if you apply such a standard to everything you consume, then you will find that anything and everything that has not been made under your very eyes could conceivably have animal traces: "Unless you grow your food yourself, there is never a full guarantee that a product is 100% vegan."
So, in the next year, let us grab a bag of Oreos and celebrate the wider spread of their appeal.