The deep dish pizza delivered to Seaton and Jill Smith last fall looked delicious, and the folks in the kitchen insisted it was gluten free. But the couple needed some more assurance.
Both Smiths suffer from celiac disease, which means just a tiny amount of gluten — a protein found in wheat, barley and other grains — can make them seriously ill. So, they pulled out one of the testing devices they helped develop; only after it confirmed a gluten-free reading did they feel confident enough to dig in.
“I was like, ‘I’ve never had anything this good,’” Seaton Smith recalled of the supreme pizza, but without the test, “I wouldn’t have eaten it. I was that afraid of it.”
The Powell couple is now trying to bring some of that same relief to others with celiac disease around the world. In partnership with Taiwanese scientist and entrepreneur Leo (Wen-Hao) Chen, the Smiths began selling their gluten testers late last month. The trio’s company, LEO Verification Systems, has already sold around 15,000 of the disposable units and hired two part-time workers to help staff their warehouse south of town. They also have a marketing staff working remotely.
For being a brand new company, “we’ve just been exploding sales,” Smith said — and LEO hopes to eventually expand their product line to offer similar testing for other top allergens, like peanuts or soy.
“We’re, again, a small company trying to grow as fast as we can, but logically,” Smith said.
