gluten-free Cheerio - eat or avoid?

[Hollye]

Hi All,

My my family and I just moved to Switzerland from Australia. As an American expat I was very pleased to find out that I could easily order gluten-free Cheerios for my 3 and 5 year old girls for the first time!

Well...for the past two weeks my girls have been displaying signs of being glutened. They are now having terrible  direahea for the past 2 weeks since I've been feeding them this cereal every other day or so. I've desperately been trying to rule out what is causing this but we are a gluten-free household...Now, I'm just waiting for the poo samples to come back because none of thier kindergarten and play group friends are sick but these test won't reveal gluten poisoning...sadly, I've just stopped the cereal for brekkie.

I am am wondering if anyone here has had any problems with the gluten-free Cheerios as of late?

Thank you!

 

[Ennis-TX]

Many celiacs are still getting sick from gluten-free cheerios, while the debate is out they are all testing below 20ppm (they are testing positive but at levels like 5-15ppm average) SO they claim they are still gluten free. Other opinions and for some celiacs (10%) they respond to oats period in a similar fashion to gluten, so oats have to be removed from the diet completely.
Honestly you just opened a can of worms, the paid people an advocates are going to come in here defending the cereal, the people who have gotten sick are going to bash this thread. and your going to get mixed reviews.
Just recall if it makes your girls sick then remove it from the house, they are either super sensitive to traces of gluten, or react to oats.

[kareng]

I am not sure if you are talking about the same Cheerios.  I know there are other brands that make Cheerios in Europe, so maybe in Australia, too?

[Cara in Boston]

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

[cyclinglady]

51 minutes ago, Cara in Boston said:

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

General Mills VOLUNTARILY decided to remove the gluten free label on their boxes of Cherrios in Canada.  The dispute seems to be about the testing methods for oats.  General Mills was on a team of researchers, manufacturers, etc.  to help determine safe and valid testing just for oats.  It appears GM gave up.  

Open Original Shared Link

Something happened, but the public does not really know exactly what happened.  It is all behind closed doors (or beyond my sleuthing abilities).  GM did make a public statement about this topic. (Yeah, the kind their Public Relations Department and their building of attorneys created and reviewed).  

Some celiacs do react to oats no matter how they are processed (pure or mechanically sorted).  Best for this Mom to avoid ALL oats for now (even other processed foods containing gluten-free oats).  Test again later with pure gluten-free oats and not sorted.  

Until this is all “sorted” out, I would be leery of many processed foods (e.g. cereal bars) beyond just General Mill’s products.    General Mills made a substantial investment in their mechanically sorted oat equipment and they did not do this for just one of their product lines.  

The botton line is no one really knows what is going on.  Hopefully, we will hear more as time goes on.  

[Hollye]

Hi Ennis,

Thanks for the heads up. Pretty sad that facts get blurred when there’s money to be made....

[Hollye]

4 hours ago, kareng said:

I am not sure if you are talking about the same Cheerios.  I know there are other brands that make Cheerios in Europe, so maybe in Australia, too?

Hi Kereng,

There were no General Mills Cheerios in Australia and the cereal that I purchased was from an online American food site that is here in Switzerland. From what I can tell, it’s genuine American Cheerios distributed by GM Minneapolis...and it reads on the box that it is a proud sponsor of Celiac.org....?

[Hollye]

2 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

General Mills VOLUNTARILY decided to remove the gluten free label on their boxes of Cherrios in Canada.  The dispute seems to be about the testing methods for oats.  General Mills was on a team of researchers, manufacturers, etc.  to help determine safe and valid testing just for oats.  It appears GM gave up.  

Open Original Shared Link

Something happened, but the public does not really know exactly what happened.  It is all behind closed doors (or beyond my sleuthing abilities).  GM did make a public statement about this topic. (Yeah, the kind their Public Relations Department and their building of attorneys created and reviewed).  

Some celiacs do react to oats no matter how they are processed (pure or mechanically sorted).  Best for this Mom to avoid ALL oats for now (even other processed foods containing gluten-free oats).  Test again later with pure gluten-free oats and not sorted.  

Until this is all “sorted” out, I would be leery of many processed foods (e.g. cereal bars) beyond just General Mill’s products.    General Mills made a substantial investment in their mechanically sorted oat equipment and they did not do this for just one of their product lines.  

The botton line is no one really knows what is going on.  Hopefully, we will hear more as time goes on.  

Hi Cyclinglady, 

thanks for the information.  Really interesting.  My understanding here in Switzerland is that the standards are not as high as they are in Australia or the USA for gluten-free labeling...but again I believe this was from the USA. Honestly, I’m so exhausted with having to constantly double check and wonder about some of the little store shop luxuries ( not cooked from mom)  that I am feeding my children.  Here in Switzerland, there are very little options as compared to Australia and the USA and so believe it or not, the Cheerios are luxury! 

3 hours ago, Cara in Boston said:

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

 

[Hollye]

4 hours ago, Cara in Boston said:

Hi Cara, 

It is a shame! As I wrote to cyclistlady, I’m tired of always having to be a bit skeptical about food labeling.  Well, my kids can eat oats so I know that’s not the issue.  

Halloween was an absolute nightmare for me as well. I purchased some gluten-free candy from the American website and I’m  also having to rule the candy out....as this is around the time my girls became sick. I purchased both the candy and the Cheerios and they’ve never eaten either before. Well.....actually I’ve  just remembered that my second daughter had normal Wheat Cheerios and blueberries at the same time when she was 8 months old in the USA and had full blown hives which brought her to the pediatrician straight away and then vomiting and diarrhea which prompted another trip. We thought it might have been some chemical on the blueberries.....? she was meant to only have gluten-free foods but my sister hadn’t realized when she visited. Who knows, maybe they are just sensitive to the Cheerios brand...

 

 

[Hollye]

On 9 November 2017 at 10:07 AM, Hollye said:

Hi All,

My my family and I just moved to Switzerland from Australia. As an American expat I was very pleased to find out that I could easily order gluten-free Cheerios for my 3 and 5 year old girls for the first time!

Well...for the past two weeks my girls have been displaying signs of being glutened. They are now having terrible  direahea for the past 2 weeks since I've been feeding them this cereal every other day or so. I've desperately been trying to rule out what is causing this but we are a gluten-free household...Now, I'm just waiting for the poo samples to come back because none of thier kindergarten and play group friends are sick but these test won't reveal gluten poisoning...sadly, I've just stopped the cereal for brekkie.

I am am wondering if anyone here has had any problems with the gluten-free Cheerios as of late?

Thank you!

 

Hi All,

so I have an update - my girls had sammonella poisoning! 

I'm fairly confident now that they were not glutened but I will wait for a while to reintroduce the Cheerios now that I know it's a moot point.

thanks all

 

[cyclinglady]

Thanks for letting us know.    Sometimes, we just assume that gluten is to blame, and often it is not.  I am so guilty of that.  I kept thinking that  I was getting glutened.  Turns out I can not tolerate Xanthan Gum....still to this day.  

 

[Hollye]

16 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

Thanks for letting us know.    Sometimes, we just assume that gluten is to blame, and often it is not.  I am so guilty of that.  I kept thinking that  I was getting glutened.  Turns out I can not tolerate Xanthan Gum....still to this day.  

 

I know...I find myself always on a gluten witch hunt because I'm so stressed but diligent about my children's health! And yet, they managed to catch salmonella!?! So, Xanathan gum makes you feel glutened? That is very interesting. Sorry to hear this too because it is in nearly everything unfortunately.

[ravenwoodglass]

On 11/12/2017 at 2:33 PM, Hollye said:

Hi All,

so I have an update - my girls had sammonella poisoning! 

I'm fairly confident now that they were not glutened but I will wait for a while to reintroduce the Cheerios now that I know it's a moot point.

thanks all

 

I hope your girls are recovering well. Just a quick note that not all celiacs tolerate oats, even gluten free oats. I am one of them. Do wait until they are well healed from the poisoning before trying the cereal again. If possible have them eat it every day for a week without any other new foods. Celiac reactions can be delayed which can make it confusing when we are trying to figure out what got us.