Where's The Gluten Here?

[lpellegr]

I spent a night throwing up, actually both ends going at once like food poisoning, after spaghetti and meatballs, and since this was the second time this happened, I starting putting two and two together. Nobody else who ate the sauce or meatballs (both gluten-free) got sick either time. The pasta I ate was something I found in an Asian store: black rice pasta, five little bundles of noodles in the package, each wrapped in a decorative paper band. The pasta ingredients were "black rice, water, cornstarch". Nothing there should be harmful, but I wonder about the paper band - could it be wheat starch paste holding it together? And yet that's not my normal reaction to gluten (although I'm so paranoid about what I eat that I hardly ever have reactions any more), and I think I ate this pasta once without a reaction. Any ideas? I have other pastas (corn, mung bean) held together with those little bands and I'm going to throw them all out just in case. Normally my gluten reaction is delayed - gut pain, gas, constipation, which I now have, but the violent heaving and .... well, I don't ever want to repeat that. I think I'll take the wrapper to work and have my Chinese coworkers translate it.

[hez]

I have no idea. I am mostly writing to sympathize. I hate trying to figure out what caused me to be sick! Was it gluten, food poisoning, or the flu? I am not a detective.

I hope you feel better soon.

Hez

[Guest cassidy]

I wonder about cc. I tend not to use products unless I know that they are produced in a gluten-free facility or at least not shared equipment. If the label is in Chinese then I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anything understandable about possible cc. Who knows they could produce wheat pasta at the same place. If it isn't made in the US then who knows if the health standards are as high either.

If the rest of your family can eat gluten then they could still eat the pasta and you wouldn't literally have to throw it away.

Hope you feel better!

[Kassie]

just because you get sick doesn't always mean its from getting gluten. i bet it was just food poisining or the flu that made u sick, exspecially if you didn't normally have those symptoms when getting glutened.

[CarlaB]

What was in the meatballs? The sauce?

[sparkles]

I wonder about cc. I tend not to use products unless I know that they are produced in a gluten-free facility or at least not shared equipment. If the label is in Chinese then I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anything understandable about possible cc. Who knows they could produce wheat pasta at the same place. If it isn't made in the US then who knows if the health standards are as high either.

If the rest of your family can eat gluten then they could still eat the pasta and you wouldn't literally have to throw it away.

Hope you feel better!

I agree about the cross contamination. For awhile I was eating corn tortillas.... recipe of corn flour and water and lime. Everytime I ate them, I would get sick. I always thoought it might be something else. Then the company changed labeling and it stated "produced in a facility that also makes wheat products." I am suspicious of anything produced in a foreign country that does not indicate that it is in a dedicated facility. I might add I am also suspicious of anything here that is not produced in a dedicated facility... and most health food stores that sell things like rice, beans, nuts in bins. TOO much of a chance for cross contamination!!!!!!!

[lpellegr]

What was in the meatballs? The sauce?

Meatballs: ground sirloin, garlic, salt, parsley, gluten-free bread crumbs, egg, fried in olive oil

Sauce: tomato puree, garlic, salt, basil

Both made the same as many times before, both fed to other people who had no symptoms but who did not eat my pasta. Symptoms showed up twice after eating this pasta. Not my normal reaction to gluten, but you never know. I gave the other packages away to Chinese friends.

[purplemom]

Just a thought...my family has all had a stomach bug that lasts for just one day, same symptoms as you just described. Maybe it's not gluten but just that time of year. Hope you are feeling better.

Cali

[CarlaB]

If you've had the symtoms on two occasions after the same pasta, I'd avoid it. Something in it doesn't agree with you.

[Sophiekins]

How do you normally react to corn?

30% of celiacs will have adverse gi reactions to corn/soy/oats (in some combination, or just one). . .something your doctor usually forgets to tell you about. My celiac reactions are different depending on what grain I've been contaminated with. . .and the corn reaction is a heckuva lot like the flu. . .out both ends almost non-stop.

The other possibility is that there is actually wheat in the noodles - I've had trouble with food labelling in foreign languages. . .I bought a box of waffles once which looked safe enough if you looked at the English ingredients but the five languages on the box revealed five different sets of ingredients. . .

[lpellegr]

I'm fine with corn, but from now on I'm taking all my purchases from the Asian store in to work for my Chinese co-workers to translate. And I still wonder if the little paper wrappers were sealed witth wheat paste.