Food Labels

[susiek]

I just went gluten free Friday afternoon after the blood was drawn for my blood tests. And the food labels are freaking me out! lol

Do you trust the food labels when they list allergens other than wheat to be gluten free? I've found a doy sauce with soy as an allergen, but not wheat. All the others I looked at had both listed.

Am I taking a chance trusting the labels? Or do I need to investigate more in case of cross contamination?

I also am having a debate through a friend with her niece. She says caramel coloring, modified food starch, and methodextrose (?) are all off limits. I say if manufactured in the US they are safe.

I feel different since going off gluten. Yesterday when I accidentally ate a small teeny weeny piece of bread when picking through my youngest's leftovers, I was almost instantly hit with stomach cramps. And the "gluten-free pizza" I had last night was the nastiest stuff I ever ate--it had a sausage crust!

[hez]

It does get easier! But it is very hard at first. Depending on the manufactuer I do trust labels (Kraft will clearly list gluten if it is a source). It is a matter of alot of research and at times calling companies to find out if a product is gluten-free.

There are several soy sauces that do not have wheat, LaChoy, San-J wheat free tamari, and someone said Kroger (check that one, I do not know for sure).

Carmel color if from the US is safe. I do not worry about maltodextrose (is that what you meant?). I do not worry as much about modified food starch since the new labeling law has to declare if it is wheat (I still like to make sure it is safe).

I like Kinikinik (sp) pizza crusts as well as Whole Foods gluten-free pizza crust. If I am in a time crunch I will grab a rice crust frozen pizza by Amy's and throw some more cheese and toppings on.

Hez

[VydorScope]

It depends on the company, a company like Nestle or Kraft, yest I trust the lable, Purity or Quacker? Not a chance in heck. Some one will post the "safe companies" list to this thread soon, I have to dig mine out.. Im just used to sticking to the ones I know now ....

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

I just went gluten free Friday afternoon after the blood was drawn for my blood tests. And the food labels are freaking me out! lol

Do you trust the food labels when they list allergens other than wheat to be gluten free? I've found a doy sauce with soy as an allergen, but not wheat. All the others I looked at had both listed.

Am I taking a chance trusting the labels? Or do I need to investigate more in case of cross contamination?

I also am having a debate through a friend with her niece. She says caramel coloring, modified food starch, and methodextrose (?) are all off limits. I say if manufactured in the US they are safe.

Yes, they are all off limits. Carmel color, modified food starch, natural flavoring, artifical flavoring, are bad in the USA. Don't trust the food companies they lie. They won't tell you about CC unless you ask if the product was made on the same line as others with gluten. Be safe - go basic.

There are several great threads others started here that give more detailed description of what is in a products ingredients. I'll try to find them and link them here.

If you have issue with SOY like many of us do here, it is in everything, from tuna to chocolate bars and so hard to avoid. They call it things like vegetable broth, or lecithin to confuse the consumer. We almost need a little dictionary of ingredients to follow when shopping.

[psawyer]

There are quite a number of food manufacturers whose labels you CAN trust to reveal any gluten sources. Most companies do not lie, despite what a few people claim.

These brands/companies can be trusted:

Arrowhead Mills, Aunt Nelly's, Balance, Baskin Robbins, Ben & Jerry, Bertoli, Betty Crocker, Blue Bunny, Breyers, Campbells, Cascadian Farms, Celestial Seasonings, ConAgra, Country Crock, Edy's, General Mills, Good Humor, Green Giant, Haagen Daz, Hellman's, Hormel, Hungry Jack, Jiffy, Knorr, Kozy Shack, Kraft, Lawry's, Libby's, Lipton, Martha White, Maxwell House, McCormick, Nabisco, Nestle, Old El Paso, Ortega, Pillsbury, Popsicle, Post, Progresso, Ragu, Russell Stover, Seneca Foods, Skippy, Smucker, Stokely's, Sunny Delight, T Marzetti, Tyson, Unilever, Wishbone, Yoplait, Zatarain's.

Caramel color and maltodextrose are safe. Modified food starch is usually corn, and under the new US law if it is wheat it must be labelled as just that, wheat.

Not all soy sauces contain wheat. Some are made with just soy. Again, under US law, if there is wheat if must be disclosed.

[gfp]

There are quite a number of food manufacturers whose labels you CAN trust to reveal any gluten sources. Most companies do not lie, despite what a few people claim.

The companies that lie directly and knowingly are probably very few but there are quite a few whom deliberately prevent themselves from finding out and rely on plausible deniability.

Other's tend to rely on vague definitions of gluten free etc.

I don't think most of them are a problem as one-offs ... in some cases CC can be a specific batch and in others a very small part of a coloring or additive.

I think one thing to be aware of is if these become "safety foods" because then you are repeating the poisioning and obviously the batch thing can be a problem if you buy 20 from the same batch.

An example of both types might be tortilla chips... they might have flavored chips then run along the same lines etc. so one batch might be after say the cheese flavor which they label as containing wheat and another the end run.

If you tend to fall back on a specific brand of tortilla chips (something I did for a while) then these can be really confusing. I think most of us have fluctuating sensitivities anyway depending on other factors, not least what else we ate that day but also just general health ... and having two identical looking bags one which makes you ill and the other not can be really confusing.

This in itself can lead to cutting out other things from a diet because you have decided product X is safe.

The only way you spot it is a really detailed food diary ....

Equally a lot of manufacturers just play pass-the-blame. They don't ask and don't want to be told but if they get caught out have the fallback of saying it was a problem with the supplier of a certain additive.

The new food labelling laws however seem to be helping in that the company can only pull the stunt once.

Caramel color and maltodextrose are safe.

This seems to be true in the US but its mainly by chance. In Europe a lot of both caramel color and maltodextrine its precursor and dextrine it's precursor are made from wheat.

Europe has a huge surplus of wheat by products, indeed there is an EU award given to the most innovative use of wheat byproducts each year! (Its not given by the EU but by a lobby group led by the growers) and so its not impossible that this could find its way into say Mexican products.

Then its down to the definition of gluten free. Strongbow cider is "glutenfree" in the UK but not in Australia for this reason. The caramel color itself is not gluten free by either definition. You can opnly find this out by asking directly if the products used to make the (in this case cider) are gluten free.

[Deb O (UK)]

Then its down to the definition of gluten free. Strongbow cider is "glutenfree" in the UK but not in Australia for this reason. The caramel color itself is not gluten free by either definition. You can opnly find this out by asking directly if the products used to make the (in this case cider) are gluten free. //

OMG ~ are you saying that Stongbow cider (UK) is not gluten-free? I am about to embark on a gluten-free diet and had thought that I could replace my pints of lager with a nice cold pint of Stongbow instead !!!

Does this apply to all cider do you know?

[gfp]

OMG ~ are you saying that Stongbow cider (UK) is not gluten-free? I am about to embark on a gluten-free diet and had thought that I could replace my pints of lager with a nice cold pint of Stongbow instead ohmy.gif !!!

Does this apply to all cider do you know?

First off its based on the fact the caramel color is itself not gluten-free but this is then diluted. Its something I find I can stomach a little of ..but not regularly. I'm the same with vodka... i can risk an odd one every so often but if I drink one measure a day for a week it hits me.

Strongbow also make 5 other ciders .. I forget which exactly.

obviously colored ciders are higher risk so perhaps try diamond white or K but beware they are 7.2 and 8.4% (from memory)

Also "real cider" is obviously gluten-free.... as well so depending where you live you might have options instead of strongbow.

Just to add my scepticism on the companies is partly through sitting through a meeting once on forecourt plastic bags. (waiting for my meeting)

The discussion hinged on providing stronger or weaker bags and a risk assesment of what would be spilled onthe forcourt. Several pro-thinner bag people stated the fact if something falls through the customer is likley to buy another and the other side we arguing that cleaning it up was cost prohibitive and that coke is one thing but inflammables another. (in a gas station)

What struck me is noone actually cared one iota about the customer.

[Byte Me]

About trusting labels... has anyone else noticed that Wal-Mart has had an increasing number of food labels (their store brand) that specifically say "Gluten Free" on them?

I absolutely loathe the company, but I have noticed the gluten-free labels on the stuff my mom buys, and as expensive as my new gluten-free shopping has been, it has me considering shopping there. Anyone have any idea as to whether or not they are trustworthy?

[Skeet]

I've had better luck finding gluten free stuff at Meijers. I'm also in luck that there's a health food store right across the road from Meijer's that has a nice offering. But yes, all are pretty expensive! Kroger's is catching up on their selection too. The one down the road from me has the Envirokids cereals, which my husband likes.

I take a print out of the unsafe stuff with me to the grocery store so I can cross check the ingredients. Stuff like Rice Krispies, which you would think to be safe has malt flavoring (as do many others). Many of the processed rice stuff has gluten in it.

My husband likes the plain Uncle Bens rice pouches for lunch.

[sharikay]

I just went gluten free Friday afternoon after the blood was drawn for my blood tests. And the food labels are freaking me out! lol

Do you trust the food labels when they list allergens other than wheat to be gluten free? I've found a doy sauce with soy as an allergen, but not wheat. All the others I looked at had both listed.

Am I taking a chance trusting the labels? Or do I need to investigate more in case of cross contamination?

I also am having a debate through a friend with her niece. She says caramel coloring, modified food starch, and methodextrose (?) are all off limits. I say if manufactured in the US they are safe.

I feel different since going off gluten. Yesterday when I accidentally ate a small teeny weeny piece of bread when picking through my youngest's leftovers, I was almost instantly hit with stomach cramps. And the "gluten-free pizza" I had last night was the nastiest stuff I ever ate--it had a sausage crust!

Being newly diagnosed as gluten intolerant this year, I gave up a lot of foods until I could find out for sure what was what. The web site of Clan Thompson really helps. Also, alot of good info on this web site. Be patient, do research and you will learn what is gluten free and not. Some will be by trial and error. Don't be afraid to order newsletters and subscriptions, they are all very helpful. Best wishes for a gluten free life to you.

[mrparker]

I'm the same with vodka... i can risk an odd one every so often but if I drink one measure a day for a week it hits me.

I was under the impression that Vodka, and and other distilled liquors were gluten-free. Certainly this website lists them as such:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=271

Here's another source that touts distilled liquors as gluten-free:

"The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has published an updated and revised edition (6th) of the "Manual of Clinical Dietetics" that offers an international perspective on the dietary treatment of many diseases. The chapter on celiac disease, written by a team of dietitians, includes diet guidelines that are consistent with international standards. Therefore the chapter's list of safe foods includes buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, teff, distilled vinegar and distilled alcoholic beverages such as rum, gin, whiskey, and vodka."

Open Original Shared Link

It's certainly possible that the alcohol itself or something else in the vodka could exacerbate an already irritated digestive tract. But vodka, even if made from grains, should be gluten-free. The distillation process should leave the gluten behind.

Patrick

[aikiducky]

The thing that often strikes me about these sorts of guidelines is... that they're mostly made by people who don't have celiac themselves. Some people do react to supposedly gluten free things. Add to that that what is considered safely gluten free varies from country to country and from guideline to guideline....

Pauliina

[gfp]

I was under the impression that Vodka, and and other distilled liquors were gluten-free. Certainly this website lists them as such:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=271

Here's another source that touts distilled liquors as gluten-free:

"The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has published an updated and revised edition (6th) of the "Manual of Clinical Dietetics" that offers an international perspective on the dietary treatment of many diseases. The chapter on celiac disease, written by a team of dietitians, includes diet guidelines that are consistent with international standards. Therefore the chapter's list of safe foods includes buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, teff, distilled vinegar and distilled alcoholic beverages such as rum, gin, whiskey, and vodka."

Open Original Shared Link

It's certainly possible that the alcohol itself or something else in the vodka could exacerbate an already irritated digestive tract. But vodka, even if made from grains, should be gluten-free. The distillation process should leave the gluten behind.

Patrick

Patrick, sorry I don't wan't to seem rude but we covered this one to death and back more than once.

The fact is some of us do get sick from grain distilled spirits ... and not from pure rum or tequila.

It took me a long time to accept this, not only am I a scientist but I have worked extensively doing mathematical modelling of fractionation and distillation processes. On one hand the obvious answer is gluten and even gliadins should not appear inthe distillate .. on the other the evidence that quite a few of us react....

I had to make myself ill several times before I accepted this .... but then thinking back I have run hundreds of models for distillation, specifically in a multiphase eutectic environment and one thing I know is the distillate is never exactly what you predict. Tiny temperature and pressure differences can change it significantly because all of the mixed compenents affect every other component and the mash for vodka for instance contains several hundred or thousand components, themselves all completly variable according to the brewing process...

One way to view this is take 50 wines, all made from the same grapes.. different years perhaps and different soils and then stored differently.

Even the same wine from the same mash put into two different sized (and even shaped) bottles can be completely different.

The bottom line is I think our sensitivities are different... some of us are pretty damned sure we react, the only test i haven't done is a completely blind test where someone else knows if I'm drinking vodka or rum heavily disguised ... and doesn't tell me to rulke out any psychological influence.

Whisky is particulary debateable, they add back a part of the mash or add chemicals... how much depends on the quality of the whisky... several Cognac's use coloring derived from unspecificed caramel color which in Europe is often from wheat.

The best I can say is "suck it and see".

Its only a decade or so ago that for instance polititians were EATING raw DDT to prove its safety...

EDITS:

What I came to the thread to add is that one way to be a little safer on labels is to find the manufacturers who list gluten on any products and also if they have may contain "others" .. for instance celery ...

I feel more confident when something actually says "May contain celery" because I know they at least considered allergens.

[mrparker]

Patrick, sorry I don't wan't to seem rude but we covered this one to death and back more than once.

The fact is some of us do get sick from grain distilled spirits ... and not from pure rum or tequila.

I don't doubt that some Celiac patients do get sick after drinking Vodka. The relevant question, though, is why do they get sick? Of the thousands of components you cite, maybe one (or more!) of them is the culprit, and it does not have to contain gluten. My Celiac son reacts to dairy, but he is not allergic and it does not contain gluten. Maybe something similar is going on with vodka and other distilled spirits.

Mathematical models are not a substitute for empirical evidence, which in this case would be actually testing the result of the distillation to see if it contained gluten. Have you done this, or can you point to others that have?

One of my in-laws cannot drink tequila, as it makes him sick. Scotch is not a problem, though, and he doesn't have a problem with gluten. But clearly something in tequila makes him ill, but it doesn't have to be gluten-related.

[gfp]

I don't doubt that some Celiac patients do get sick after drinking Vodka. The relevant question, though, is why do they get sick? Of the thousands of components you cite, maybe one (or more!) of them is the culprit, and it does not have to contain gluten. My Celiac son reacts to dairy, but he is not allergic and it does not contain gluten. Maybe something similar is going on with vodka and other distilled spirits.

Mathematical models are not a substitute for empirical evidence, which in this case would be actually testing the result of the distillation to see if it contained gluten. Have you done this, or can you point to others that have?

One of my in-laws cannot drink tequila, as it makes him sick. Scotch is not a problem, though, and he doesn't have a problem with gluten. But clearly something in tequila makes him ill, but it doesn't have to be gluten-related.

I agree entirely....indeed it is even more complex? Is it gluten or is it (more likely) small amino acid chains of gliadin.

Testing wise... it makes a huge difference. For instance testing by GCMS would be completely different if looking for whole gluten or gliadin chains. Not not would timing be completely different but a different GC column entirely.

Mathematical models are not a substitute for empirical evidence, which in this case would be actually testing the result of the distillation to see if it contained gluten. Have you done this, or can you point to others that have?

Nope but I have done this with petroleum distillates .... again and again and again .. but there is a lot more money in distilling kerosene as jet fuel than vodka to be gluten (and derivatives) free.

jp54 (commercial grade jet fuel) sells for more than the price of M100 (heating oil) and is in constant demand

The prices vary regionally but there is usually a $5/bbl spread between the two.

U.S. airlines require about 1.27 million barrels of jet fuel per day (At 42 gallons per barrel, this translates to 19.5 billion gallons per year.) The average cost of a gallon of jet fuel has more than doubled, from 75 cents per gallon in 2001 to $2.01 in the first seven months of 2006. At current rates of consumption, every penny increase in the price of a gallon of jet fuel results in an additional $195 million in annual operating expenses for the industry. In 2005, U.S. passenger and cargo airlines consumed more than 19.9 billion gallons of jet fuel, costing more than $33 billion.

The difference between crude oil and jet fuel prices, commonly known as the "crack spread," historically averaged about $5 per barrel. In the weeks following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, however, the crack spread widened dramatically when major oil supply disruptions prompted refiners to focus their operations on producing gasoline. As a result, airline demand for fuel far exceeded the available supply, causing the spot price of jet fuel to spike at more than double the spot price of oil. At its peak, the crack spread added the equivalent of $60 per barrel to the final cost of jet fuel, which surged to $131.47 in the Gulf Coast on October 5, 2005. For the first seven months of 2006, the crack spread averaged $16.49 per barrel.

Just as motorists pay different prices for gasoline in different parts of the country, airlines pay different prices regionally for jet fuel. West Coast prices traditionally run higher, because of limited refining capacity as well as inferior storage, logistics and distribution capabilities. In addition to the mountainous terrain, which limits trucking capability, the West Coast lacks the more robust pipeline network of the East, although the latter is becoming increasingly strained by today’s demand and competing product needs (i.e., gasoline vs. diesel vs. jet). Much of the product on the West Coast is imported, often from countries with even higher prices.

There is obviously a huge incentive to be able to fill demand with premium product!

The chemical differences are trivial, except of course jet fuel doesn't freeze at -40 !

[floridanative]

Unless Smuckers just changed their tune, they do not know if any of their products are gluten free. They told me so 5 months ago and again last week. I depise them for their disinterest in knowing what's in their products. They say they are working on it but why buy something from a company that can't tell you 5 months if their stuff is gluten free. Down with Smuckers big time!

[psawyer]

Smuckers will not call any product "gluten free" at this time due to the remote possibility that there could be unknown cross contamination in something they got from an outside supplier (i.e., beyond their control). Meanwhile, as they keep their @$$ firmly covered, they will not hide gluten in vague ingredients like "natural flavor" and the like. Any known gluten source will be clearly disclosed.

Open Original Shared Link

I don't think that this shows a "disinterest," and I certainly don't think it warrants a boycott of their products. If we want to boycott something, let's boycott tort lawyers!

[gfp]

Unless Smuckers just changed their tune, they do not know if any of their products are gluten free. They told me so 5 months ago and again last week. I depise them for their disinterest in knowing what's in their products. They say they are working on it but why buy something from a company that can't tell you 5 months if their stuff is gluten free. Down with Smuckers big time!

5 months isn't so long... when they have suppliers and the suppliers have suppliers etc.

During a recent "worcester sauce affair" in the UK they found some carcinogen in part of it and this was if I remember down to some factory in Africa somewhere that made a particualr coloring.

However from this point forwards they then had to go to all the foods that had contained this batch of worcester sauce (I obviously didn't need to check because its a non gluten-free one) ... it was hundreds and hundreds of foods .. supermarket own brands and all sorts and this was classed as an emergency... and still took weeks.

and this still doesn't even touch other foods that had the same flavoring component...

If they phone a supplier and say, hey we have a restricted carcinogen in our product I expect they act a lot quicker than a general query is your product gluten-free so when this has to go through a few chains 5 months really isn't that much and I bet most of the suppliers answer is "how would we know." we need to ask our supplier...