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Lara Bars?


DJFL77I

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DJFL77I Experienced

I have 4 of these sitting around but i'm afraid to eat them because they're "packaged"..

only 3 ingredients....

I wish they'd be safe to eat since they're 200 calories each.. and I need easy to eat extra calories from somewhere


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Scott Adams Grand Master

Lara Bars have been considered to be gluten-free for a very long time now, and should be safe, especially if they say "gluten-free" on their label. On their home page they say: "... you can feel good about eating with many gluten free, dairy free & vegan options to choose from."

https://www.larabar.com/

DJFL77I Experienced

I'll take your word for it

DJFL77I Experienced

Plastic in Larabars

The current problem of plastic in Larabars is not a gluten-free issue per se. But these bars are a go to snack food for many in the celiac disease community. These bars were my breakfast each and every day for years. I first came across plastic in my Larabar in 2015. Plastic showed up again in 2016. Needless to say, I stopped eating these bars. I will never eat another one. If General Mills is this sloppy with plastic what else are they sloppy with?

Statement from General Mills

Yesterday, I reached out to General Mills for comment. Their statement is posted below with permission.

“Thank you for reaching out on this topic.  The pureed dates we use to make Larabars comes to us in a thin blue plastic liner.  On rare occasions, a small piece of this flexible liner may be torn off in the manufacturing process and finds its way into the bar when we mix our ingredients together. This has been a stubborn issue to solve, and we have tried several solutions. Since we last discussed this issue with you, we have changed the liners that our pureed date supplier uses, resulting in a dramatic reduction in this issue. The bar you sent to us used the old liner. We sincerely apologize for this issue and will work with any consumer who contacts us to replace their Larabar.  While FDA regulations do not consider this issue a safety hazard, we take it very seriously and are continuing to monitor the issue closely.”

Note: It is the case that FDA considers HARD plastic a safety hazard. It is unclear how the agency views softer pieces of plastic.

Plastic in Larabars: If you want this to stop then make some noise | (glutenfreewatchdog.org)

trents Grand Master

Plastic increases the fiber content.

notme Experienced
27 minutes ago, trents said:

Plastic increases the fiber content.

hahahahahaaa - i was thinking that!  also, plastic is gluten free lololz

honestly, i don't know how people eat larabars - they're so gross.  when i was first dx'd, we went to the county fair (with allllllllll the delicious gluten foods - there is nothing to eat at a fair lolz) and i brought a larabar for me because i knew i couldn't eat anything there.  last larabar i ever ate, super cardboardy yuckiness while i watched my family eat funnel cakes and sausage n peppa sammiches.  the next year we went i brought my own sammich and funnel cake.  put that larabar in the trash and don't look back.  

trents Grand Master

This pandemic might turn everything into larabars as far as tasting food goes.

The thing I struggle with in regards to protein/energy bars is that many of them include a large amount of inulin to make them high fiber. Boy, does inulin give me the toots!


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DJFL77I Experienced

the peanut butter ones are ok

what bars can i eat then  😕

Scott Adams Grand Master

I believe Cliff Bars are gluten-free, but there are a lot of bars now that are labelled "gluten-free".

GFinDC Veteran

Some of the Cliff bars used to have barley in them years ago.  I don't know if they still do though.

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    • Mmoc
      Thank you kindly for your response. I have since gotten the other type of bloods done and am awaiting results. 
    • Aretaeus Cappadocia
      I wanted to respond to your post as much for other people who read this later on (I'm not trying to contradict your experience or decisions) > Kirkland Signature Super Extra-Large Peanuts, 2.5 lbs, are labeled "gluten free" in the Calif Costcos I've been in. If they are selling non-gluten-free in your store, I suggest talking to customer service to see if they can get you the gluten-free version (they are tasty) > This past week I bought "Sliced Raw Almonds, Baking Nuts, 5 lbs Item 1495072 Best if used by Jun-10-26 W-261-6-L1A 12:47" at Costco. The package has the standard warning that it was made on machinery that <may> have processed wheat. Based on that alone, I would not eat these. However, I contacted customer service and asked them "are Costco's Sliced Almonds gluten free?" Within a day I got this response:  "This is [xyz] with the Costco Member Service Resolutions Team. I am happy to let you know we got a reply back from our Kirkland Signature team. Here is their response:  This item does not have a risk of cross contamination with gluten, barley or rye." Based on this, I will eat them. Based on experience, I believe they will be fine. Sometimes, for other products, the answer has been "they really do have cross-contamination risk" (eg, Kirkland Signature Dry Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Salted, 1.5 lbs Item 1195303). When they give me that answer I return them for cash. You might reasonably ask, "Why would Costco use that label if they actually are safe?" I can't speak for Costco but I've worked in Corporate America and I've seen this kind of thing first hand and up close. (1) This kind of regulatory label represents risk/cost to the company. What if they are mistaken? In one direction, the cost is loss of maybe 1% of sales (if celiacs don't buy when they would have). In the other direction, the risk is reputational damage and open-ended litigation (bad reviews and celiacs suing them). Expect them to play it safe. (2) There is a team tasked with getting each product out to market quickly and cheaply, and there is also a committee tasked with reviewing the packaging before it is released. If the team chooses the simplest, safest, pre-approved label, this becomes a quick check box. On the other hand, if they choose something else, it has to be carefully scrutinized through a long process. It's more efficient for the team to say there <could> be risk. (3) There is probably some plug and play in production. Some lots of the very same product could be made in a safe facility while others are made in an unsafe facility. Uniform packaging (saying there is risk) for all packages regardless of gluten risk is easier, cheaper, and safer (for Costco). Everything I wrote here is about my Costco experience, but the principles will be true at other vendors, particularly if they have extensive quality control infrastructure. The first hurdle of gluten-free diet is to remove/replace all the labeled gluten ingredients. The second, more difficult hurdle is to remove/replace all the hidden gluten. Each of us have to assess gray zones and make judgement calls knowing there is a penalty for being wrong. One penalty would be getting glutened but the other penalty could be eating an unnecessarily boring or malnourishing diet.
    • trents
      Thanks for the thoughtful reply and links, Wheatwacked. Definitely some food for thought. However, I would point out that your linked articles refer to gliadin in human breast milk, not cow's milk. And although it might seem reasonable to conclude it would work the same way in cows, that is not necessarily the case. Studies seem to indicate otherwise. Studies also indicate the amount of gliadin in human breast milk is miniscule and unlikely to cause reactions:  https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/gluten-peptides-in-human-breast-milk-implications-for-cows-milk/ I would also point out that Dr. Peter Osborne's doctorate is in chiropractic medicine, though he also has studied and, I believe, holds some sort of certifications in nutritional science. To put it plainly, he is considered by many qualified medical and nutritional professionals to be on the fringe of quackery. But he has a dedicated and rabid following, nonetheless.
    • Scott Adams
      I'd be very cautious about accepting these claims without robust evidence. The hypothesis requires a chain of biologically unlikely events: Gluten/gliadin survives the cow's rumen and entire digestive system intact. It is then absorbed whole into the cow's bloodstream. It bypasses the cow's immune system and liver. It is then secreted, still intact and immunogenic, into the milk. The cow's digestive system is designed to break down proteins, not transfer them whole into milk. This is not a recognized pathway in veterinary science. The provided backup shifts from cow's milk to human breastmilk, which is a classic bait-and-switch. While the transfer of food proteins in human breastmilk is a valid area of study, it doesn't validate the initial claim about commercial dairy. The use of a Dr. Osborne video is a major red flag. His entire platform is based on the idea that all grains are toxic, a view that far exceeds the established science on Celiac Disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a YouTube video from a known ideological source is not that evidence."  
    • Wheatwacked
      Some backup to my statement about gluten and milk. Some background.  When my son was born in 1976 he was colicky from the beginning.  When he transitioned to formula it got really bad.  That's when we found the only pediactric gastroenterologist (in a population of 6 million that dealt with Celiac Disease (and he only had 14 patients with celiac disease), who dianosed by biopsy and started him on Nutramegen.  Recovery was quick. The portion of gluten that passes through to breastmilk is called gliadin. It is the component of gluten that causes celiac disease or gluten intolerance. What are the Effects of Gluten in Breastmilk? Gliaden, a component of gluten which is typically responsible for the intestinal reaction of gluten, DOES pass through breast milk.  This is because gliaden (as one of many food proteins) passes through the lining of your small intestine into your blood. Can gluten transmit through breast milk?  
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