The Zeer Blog

We are enormously excited to introduce our latest companion and tool for helping people with Celiac Disease answer the question of what is and isn’t gluten free.

GlutenScan is the first iPhone app that allows people to pick up a product in the grocery store, type in a Name or UPC and determine if that product is safe or not.  If a product contains gluten, glutenScan automatically searches the database and recommends gluten free alternatives.

Our first release includes ability to call the manufacturer quickly if you have a question, high resolution photos so you can be sure be sure that the product you’re holding in your hand is the one in our database, and easy browsing for over 130 categories in one click.

GlutenScan goes beyond your gluten free food book or list.  Over 30,000 products in our database are assigned a gluten-free safety status; We are continually adding or updating 500+ products every week so you can get the most updated information available to make your decisions.

Features:

1. Gluten free safety status attached to over 30,000 food products
2. Database contains products from over 10,000 manufacturers
3. 500+ products added or updated each week
4. Search products by Name, Category, UPC, and Manufacturer name
5. Call the manufacturer at the touch of a button
6. Comprehensive list of problem ingredients and synonyms
7. High resolution images of each product
8. Easy to view highlighting of problematic ingredients
9. Access to over 130 categories in one click
10. Find Alternatives for any product instantly

Process & Expertise:

GlutenScan’s comprehensive list of problem ingredients was prepared by experts with over 40 years combined celiac & gluten free nutrition experience. This medical advisory and research team makes glutenScan the most thorough, instructive product and ingredient resource available for individuals with celiac disease. To read more about the process & expertise behind glutenScan & Zeer.com visit our process & expertise page.

Pay Only For What You Use!

One of the first iPhone applications available on a subscription basis, glutenScan is currently offered at an intial discounted rate of $1.99 for 30 days of use. Continue as necessary by extending your subscription for $1.99 for another 30 days, or $3.99 for 90 additional days.

Since the Zeer launch in early 2008, we have been inspired by the support and passion that our members and visitors have shown.  We’ve heard from many people who say they’d like greater insights into the foods they are eating, that they want help reading a product’s packaging. Today, we are proud to introduce several exciting enhancements to Zeer that are directly in response to these enthusiastic requests.

A Simpler, Easier Way to Find Safe Food

We are excited to announce the release of Zeer Select, the easy way to find gluten free food. Zeer Select is a database of over 30,000 food product that helps people stay safe, save time, & learn the gluten free diet. Zeer Select is a monthly subscription ($14.95 a month) where members can:

• Instantly see the gluten-free safety status for over 30,000 products in our database
• Discover gluten free alternatives for any product
• Search gluten free foods by category, brand, product, and UPC.
• View highlighted problem ingredients and manufacturer’s statements to help you learn why products are safe or not.

We began all this work from a belief that finding great food information online should be easy. For many, this may only be a minor inconvenience, but for individuals living on a gluten free diet, finding food that is safe and also delicious is essential. Now individuals on a gluten free diet have help in making sense of the 60,000 ingredients and 30,000 products from over 10,000 manufacturers.  In Zeer Select, we have assigned a Gluten Free Safety Status to over 30,000 products. Subscribers can search or browse the entire database to find specific products or browse by categories such as entrees, condiments, sauces, etc.

We have also engaged a group of leading medical and nutrition advisers and food researchers with deep personal and professional experience in celiac disease and the gluten free diet to help in the process of assigning gluten free safety status’ to products. We have analyzed every ingredient (and synonyms) in every product for problematic ingredients, considered issues of cross contamination and have manually reviewed (in duplicate) every manufacturer’s statement/allergen warning on every product in assigning the Gluten Free safety Status.

Zeer Select is updated continuously unlike books and static lists which become out dated very quickly. Each week 500 products are added or updated so that our users have the best information to make their decisions.

To check out all the exciting changes we’ve made to Zeer, login now, and let us know what you think.

We are very proud to present our first ever iPhone app, Food Reviews on Zeer. Now all the great information on Zeer is available while you’re on the go — nutrition facts, warnings, and our stellar user reviews, plus a searchable database for 100,000 + grocery products.

Take a tour of the exciting features our app now!

From our press release:

“The Food Reviews iPhone App gives consumers access to the Zeer database of grocery products across 35 categories, ranging from bread and breakfast foods to pizza and beer. Consumers can easily search important information, including nutrition facts in the standard FDA format, consumer reviews, ingredients, and manufacturer warning labels.

The first-of-its kind application also allows consumers to filter searches by average rating to help discover high quality foods while on the go. Consumers can easily keep track of their favorite foods and sync their favorite products automatically with Zeer.com. Shoppers preferring Organic or Kosher foods can easily filter their searches to see only these products. High quality images are also featured for each product, enabling easy identification while in the supermarket aisle and improving the overall shopping experience.”

We also created a fun 1 minute demo on YouTube featuring our very own CEO, Mike Putnam, showing you some our favorite features of our application. Enjoy!

We’re having a virtual Thanksgiving and we need your help! When you share your Thanksgiving-themed Zeer reviews before November 21st, 2008, you’re automatically entered to win 1 of 3 chic, eco-friendly Zeer shopping bags. For more details, check out the Zeer Blog.

Ah, it looks like our virtual Thanksgiving is already rapidly underway! Stacy L. is in the Zeer kitchen shredding Hoffman’s Super Sharp Pasteurized Cheddar Cheese for Shannon S’s delectably gooey Mueller’s Elbow Macaroni and cheese.

Meanwhile Jiffy’s Corn Muffin Mix fan, Sarah C., fends off Zeer founder, Michael P, who tries to sneak a taste of the fresh baked cornbread cooling in the cast iron pan. If we’re lucky, maybe Christine M. remembered to bring Land O’ Lakes Sweet Cream Salted Butter to melt on top. If not, we could always use Lee Lacocca’s 60% Vegetable Spread. which Damien S. rejoices as “The best BEST buttery spread around.”

If the heat in the kitchen makes us thirsty, Southern transplant Molly P. will make sure our whistles stay wet with a couple pitchers of Lipton Iced Tea while Rachel K. keeps us giggling with Man Vintners South African 2005 Chenin Blanc, a wine famed for its “potential to instigate a lot of funny innuendos at the dinner table.”

Gluten-free Zeers will also be giving thanks this year because Lisa B. (who’s been sharing her GF Thanksgiving tips in the Gluten Allergy Community ) has whipped up a couple of perfect pumpkin pies using Whole Foods Frozen Gluten Free Pie Crust. Has Sara Lee been replaced by Lisa B.? Only taste will tell.

Barnaby D. can put down the Hungry Man Roasted Carved Turkey today because we’ll be having a Tofurkey (for our hungry Vegans and Vegetarians ). Which reminds me, should we spring for the Tofurkey Giblet Gravy, too?

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From the Zeer Better Buyer, November 18, 2008

The Better Buyer is a newsletter that brings the best advice found in Zeer reviews straight to your inbox. With Zeer’s Better Buyer, you can see what products are buzzing in the Zeer community, check out the newest Zeer members, and glimpse a smorgasbord of new reviews. To make sure you receive Zeer’s Better Buyer, sign up for Zeer and double check that the newsletter box is currently in the “checked” position on your email settings page here.

Since we’re all about transparency of information over at Zeer, we like to share with our users what people are saying about us across the web.

A new series at Mashable started recently called The Startup Review, if your company is less than a year old and has never been featured on Mashable, and possesses an active site than you could qualify for coverage. Since we met all three requirements, we tossed our hats into the ring to see what the Mashable Team had to say about us.

Want to read our review? Check it out here: Zeer Helps You Build A Better Grocery List

For more press coverage, please check out our press page.

Green & Organic Carnival Mentions:

In the past few months, several blogs have been showing our Green and Parent entries some love. Many thanks to Stefanie over at Focus Organic for including us in Eco Blog carnival # 13 for our blog entry Aluminum Vs Glass Beer Bottles – The New Paper Vs Plastic.

Our Earth Day post, Planning Your Eco Friendly picnic also got some recognition from Marie at Green Your Apartment’s awesome Seven Tips for Green Living Carnival.

Parenting Carnivals Mentions:

We also got mentioned within the Parents Helping Parents Carnival over at Modern Parent for our post about Mothers Keeping BPA Free. Thanks John for including us!

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To all of the blogs who participated, “Awesome Job.”

To the bloggers who are supporting community on the web, “Thanks!”

The Boston Globe today announced the birth of Zeer Mobile, the first ever mobile shopping companion!

With Zeer mobile as your food savvy sidekick, you can shop with confidence and express your opinion on groceries from anywhere. To experience Zeer mobile, type m.zeer.com into your mobile browser to get instant access to nutrition information, reviews, and ingredients for over 110,000 grocery items.

ZEER MOBILE FEATURES

• Search our database of over 110,000 products. Check your infobits. Read ingredients and nutrition information. Get access to hundreds of unbiased reviews.
• Express your opinion on products while in the store. Just type in the UPC or name of the product you love or hate. Your opinion will instantly appear on Zeer.com!
• View shopping lists and manage your personal food inventory — whatever is in your refrigerator or pantry.
• Keep track of items your trying day to day. Say you’re at a friend’s house munching on some Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus. It’s so delicious, so scrumptious, you think, “I must remember to buy this next time I’m at the store.” Put down that paper and pen, Jane Austen. With Zeer Mobile, you can look up the product, and instantly add it to your want list. Delicious things will never be forgotten again!

Are you fingers itching to give it a whirl? Make a list on Zeer today! The next time you’re at the store, punch m.zeer.com into your mobile browser, login, and take our community out for a test drive.

Don’t be surprised when grocery shoppers start asking: “Is that Zeer in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

Have you noticed all the new faces on Zeer today?

Time Magazine has selected Zeer as one of the Top 50 Websites of 2008 ! We’re up there alongside some other great up-and-coming sites. I’ve enjoyed the morning perusing their selections and picked a few favorites below:

1. Serious Eats is a cornucopia of mouth-watering fare that covers tours all corners of the globe. Foodies will delight in bright pictures and armchair eating. It’s one of the few food sites that does the culinary experience casually without a lot of fluff, but a lot of great food.
2. Worried about gas prices, food costs and financial planning? Mint is a free financial service that helps everyday people keep track of what their spending. Using easy to understand pie charts and graphs users can see where their money is going (food, travel, utilities) and read helpful advice that helps keep their finances on track.
3. Turn promises into actions with Carbonrally , a site where you can create environmentally-friendly teams (from your home or office) and challenge them obtainable eco-challenges like taking a 2 minute shower, eating less red meat, or saving 20 sheets of paper a day. I plan on challenging my Zeer team to a meat-free challenge very soon.
4. And of course, there’s us! Zeer . We help people obtain unbiased information about groceries. On our site you can examine product information, create shopping lists online, and share products and advice on food with friends.

We’d love it if you gave us your rating on the Time website. Just click the link below and use the sliding scale to rate Zeer between 1 and 100. (Fingers crossed for 100!)

Zeer on Time Magazine’s Top 50 Websites of 2008

We’ve all made lists.

Lists scrawled on the back of receipts, on notebook paper, on note cards and even on the back of hands. Lists are a basic but vital tool that every organized shopper needs.

With Zeer Lists, it’s now easier than ever to create lists that keep you confident and organized.

1. Shopping List: With your Zeer shopping list, you can work on your shopping list days in advance, resort your shopping list by category, write in notes or specify quantity and print the list with (or without) pictures.
2. Favorite List : Your favorite list is a great place to keep track of your most often purchased items so you can easily transfer them to your shopping list and inventory!
3. Inventory List : You can also keep track of what food items are in your house already with you inventory list. No more guest work! Leave notes or record quantity so you never have to wonder “Is there any milk left?” again.
4. Want List : Zeer wants you to mix things up in your kitchen. If you see a product on Zeer that you want to try, send that drool-worthy bad boy over to your want list. From there, you can send wanted products to your other lists including your shopping list and inventory.
5. To Review : Don’t let another review slip through your fingers! When you spy a product that has your opinion written all over it, mark it “To Review” for easy access later.

It’s been a busy week here at Zeer.

We enjoyed a healthy Beta launch on Tuesday that was kicked off by a stellar Techcrunch review that touched on the finer points of Zeer while noting a few areas for potential expansion. Despite how busy it got, we still found time in the afternoon on Tuesday to celebrate. Mike Putnam broke open the champagne and we shared a celebratory drink that was one year in the making. Let’s just say, after months of hard work, it feels great to be out there helping people find better products and better product information.

All week the calls and inquiries about our site have been pouring in and the reviews from new users are, too. Our small, but growing community is already filling up with quality information from users about the products they’ve been eating. It’s quite incredible to watch.

Not to mention that we’ve been getting incredibly positive and optimistic feedback from advertisers, businesses, and the blogging community. One simple, but powerful compliment came from IateaPie ’s Tanya Taylor who has been reviewing Lowfat and healthy food items on her blog since 2004. After a friendly comment I left in her blog, Tanya shot me an email to thank me for the comment and to add, "I love Zeer - definitely the most user friendly community review site I’ve seen." From someone with their PHD in Food Science & Nutrition, that’s quite a compliment. Thanks Tanya!

Keep on the lookout over the next few weeks as we roll out even more user-friendly features to help you find better product information before you even step foot in the store.