Never Shop Hungry

[EmiPark210]

Today my roommate and I went to the grocery store after a couple hours of walking around a museum so we were both shopping hungry. Everything I picked up had the coveted Austrian "gluteinfrei" symbol on it, until I got to the chips. I found one brand that based off the ingredients seemed safe, but then I found "Wild Tex Chili Chips" that looked delicious. A quick look over the ingredients yielded no warnings, the allergy listings didn't say anything about wheat or gluten, so I bought them. It wasn't until I was eating them in the elevator in my apartment building that I noticed the "wheat flour" in the English translation of the ingredients. I forgot that the allergin listings here don't include things that you can easily read in the ingredients, it's just traces that are listed. In my hungry state I didn't read the ingredients multiple times over, in every language I understand, until it was too late. I'm almost convinced that I shouldn't buy anything without that wonderful, government regulated, less than 20ppm label. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

Also, my short term coping method is a glass or two of wine because my initial reaction looks more like intoxication than anything else, and I'm really scared of mentally causing my reaction to become worse. So I have a drink, then I can't tell if it's the alcohol or the gluten that's making my head woosy and the world spin, and since I can't identify the source of my off-ness I feel like I won't accidentally psychologically make a mountain out of a mole-hill. But at the same time, I feel like this isn't a good coping mechanism. I never knowingly eat something with gluten and avoid CC at all costs, but when it does happen and I find out soon after, I get rid of the gluten food and triple check everything else in my kitchen.  Any other ideas on not psyching myself out?

[nora-n]

I have heard about the wine thing, that some can avoid the worst of symptoms by drinking some wine!

 

About labeling, I have seen swedish labels where the wheat starch was not listed on top of the list.

 

Here the ingredients must be listed in falling order by weight, but not so over there I guess. (I do not tolerate wheat starch either, nor milk)  Also, it said lactose free on the package, and it actually contained milk (lactose free milk powder) so it did not help, since it was milk. (crazy bakers cookies)

 

here wheat is listed in the ingredients, not allergens

[Pegleg84]

I think we've all done that before, then are super incredibly careful afterwards. My best (er, worst) example is that I recently discovered I've been using shampoo with wheat protein in it for months! Like, I've bought it several times and never noticed. The conditioner has oat protein, which is fine, so I mustn't have read the shampoo label well enough... Coincidentally I've been feeling pretty great since I stopped using it.

 

Anyway, about the wine, it won't reduce your symptoms, but it will mask them with drunkeness. Maybe not a good regular coping mechanism, but i'm guilty of doing the same on occasion.

 

Also, don't freak out. It's just a reminder to always always (always always) read the labels! (this is our mantra). All of it. You never know what might be lurking.

It's great that you can read more than 1 language too. I've seen conflicting info on a few translated labels. For example, some Korean seaweed snacks that had "corn oil" listed in the english, but the french said "huile de soja" (soy oil), so I steered clear of those (soy intolerance).

 

I think here (canada) any major allergens should be (it isn't hugely enforced) listed below (contains: such and such) even if it's in the ingredients. It only needs to say "may contain" if not listed, and made in the same fascility.

Ingredients are usually listed by weight, so if it was just a little flour in the chip seasoning, it wouldn't have been listed first.

 

Hope the glutening doesn't last long.