General Mills cereal really gluten free?

[juliev]

Is the new gluten-free line of General Mills cereals REALLY gluten free?  They say on the box that they "remove wheat, rye, and barley" and only use oats.  However, I've read that oats, unless certified gluten-free, are usually contaminated.  The box says nothing about being certified gluten-free, nor is there any info on whether or not the facility processes wheat.  My child with celiac disease does not experience symptoms, but his bloodwork numbers for Celiac are through the roof (over 100 even after 18 months of gluten-free diet).  We're learning that he was getting cross contamination and are working toward eliminating that as much as possible, but I'm wondering about the possibility of misleading labels also causing issues.

[AUNT T 2006]

I AM WONDERING THE SAME THING I ALWAYS WAS TOLD AFTER I WAS IN COMA FOR 4 DAYS DO TO BEING ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN . THAT IS WHAT THEY HAD FOUND OUT AFTER DOING ALL TEST THEY COULD. I HAD TO LEARN TO TALK AND WALK AGAIN JUST BECAUSE OF THE GLUTEN. NOW I WAS TOLD THAT CROSS CONTAMINATION YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM AND NOT ONLY THAT I WAS TOLD ABOUT THE OATS NOT BEING GLUTEN FREE. IT SHOULD BE GLUTEN FREE OATS. HOW TRUE IS IT. I WAS TOLD TO NEVER EAT OATS WHEAT, RYE, BARLEY EVER AGAIN

 

[Scott Adams]

AUNT T 2006: Please don't post in all capital letters...as it is considered yelling.

I highly doubt that a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded US corporation with the reputation that General Mills has would sell a product labelled "gluten-free" if it wasn't gluten-free. This means that you should never be able to find a box that tests over 20 ppm. Imagine if you could...the amount of liability and the class action lawsuits that would follow. It would be like VW's current situation with cheating on emissions, but far worse.

There is a small percentage of celiacs who also have oat intolerance. I would still recommend removing them from your child's diet, and examine their diet very closely, and re-test them after a few months. Is it possible that your child is in the ~25% of celiacs who cheat on their diet?