Glutened By Unknown Sources

[RiceGuy]

Hi everybody.

Something occurred to me for which I have yet to find a definitive answer. Many on this board report getting glutened, and feel it is cross-contamination in a bag of some baking mix, a box of gluten-free cereal, etc. Well, suppose it's not CC, but the darn glue on the box? Then whenever you open the box of cereal for example, you'd be getting gluten on your fingertips! Blaming the contents is of course a natural and logical conclusion, but might the glue on the box be the culprit? Bags may be sealed with glue also, though in many cases they are simply heat-sealed. That is, the plastic is just melted together. Even a really careful company might have no control over the glue being used. If they do, have they ever actually considered the type of glue as a possible contaminant?

I did email Mary's Gone Crackers, and the answer I received was surprisingly reassuring - they said the glue they use is a hot melt type, which is basically soft plastic AFAIK. That's a relatively small operation, and still says little or nothing about any other company, whether dedicated gluten-free or not.

I did some searching around, but didn't find anything accept that lots of different glues are being used on food packages. At this moment I have a can of peanuts with a seal on in, and the pull-tab has a sticky glue holding it down. I'd bet it has gluten in it, and I'll be handling it every time I'd get some peanuts unless I totally remove the seal, which I haven't been doing because it helps keep the peanuts fresher. Even if I did remove the whole seal, there's still the glue they use to hold the seal around the edge.

[oceangirl]

Hi everybody.

Something occurred to me for which I have yet to find a definitive answer. Many on this board report getting glutened, and feel it is cross-contamination in a bag of some baking mix, a box of gluten-free cereal, etc. Well, suppose it's not CC, but the darn glue on the box? Then whenever you open the box of cereal for example, you'd be getting gluten on your fingertips! Blaming the contents is of course a natural and logical conclusion, but might the glue on the box be the culprit? Bags may be sealed with glue also, though in many cases they are simply heat-sealed. That is, the plastic is just melted together. Even a really careful company might have no control over the glue being used. If they do, have they ever actually considered the type of glue as a possible contaminant?

I did email Mary's Gone Crackers, and the answer I received was surprisingly reassuring - they said the glue they use is a hot melt type, which is basically soft plastic AFAIK. That's a relatively small operation, and still says little or nothing about any other company, whether dedicated gluten-free or not.

I did some searching around, but didn't find anything accept that lots of different glues are being used on food packages. At this moment I have a can of peanuts with a seal on in, and the pull-tab has a sticky glue holding it down. I'd bet it has gluten in it, and I'll be handling it every time I'd get some peanuts unless I totally remove the seal, which I haven't been doing because it helps keep the peanuts fresher. Even if I did remove the whole seal, there's still the glue they use to hold the seal around the edge.

RiceGuy,

I have always wondered about that as I open my box of Erewhon Brown Rice Krisps and other things. Thank you for bringing it up!

lisa

[jerseyangel]

Rice Guy--

I also think about that possibility. Especially the kind of glue on bottles (and other things) that stretches when you pull it off. I'm glad that it's not just me who wonders about this. I'll be interested to know if you learn any more about this

[RiceGuy]

I just found this on the Elmer's glue site:

Is Elmer's glue gluten free?

All of our products are gluten free except for the Elmer's Finger Paints. The finger paints contain wheat and oat products.

So it seems the children could get glutened in art class too.