Dried Fruit Contaminated With Gluten?

[nama shivaya]

Hi All:

I was doing really well, then introduced some dried mangoes I got from the health food store and started feeling yukky. At first I thought it was from eating too many of the sickly sweet things, but my sinuses started acting up after 2 1/2 months of being gluten-free and no sinus headaches.

Have any of you heard of dried fruit being contaminated with gluten? Crazy.

Thanks!

[Sheriinwi]

Hi All:

I was doing really well, then introduced some dried mangoes I got from the health food store and started feeling yukky. At first I thought it was from eating too many of the sickly sweet things, but my sinuses started acting up after 2 1/2 months of being gluten-free and no sinus headaches.

Have any of you heard of dried fruit being contaminated with gluten? Crazy.

Thanks!

No but did you buy them in bulk? They may have been cross-contaminated by other grains that also come bulk. Do they contain sulfites?

[Juliebove]

I've seen dates coated with oat flour but they will say so.

Does your health food store bag their own? If so they might have been contaminated from something else.

[hathor]

Interesting. I recently ran across a list of what folks eating gluten free can eat, should check out, or should avoid, and it put dried fruit in the "avoid" list. I started a thread on several different forums about this. Some said the list must be old & was obviously inaccurate (it had some other goofy things on there). Others said they had heard of dried fruit being dusted with flour or flour being on the conveyor belts to avoid sticking. But then people responded that any wheat used in this way would have to show up on the label and, besides, wheat flour is sticky because it contains gluten. Why use it?

My stab at internet research found mention of oat flour sometimes being used in this fashion. I haven't found any definite proof of wheat flour being used.

Have you had much mango before? You could be reacting to that. Are there any other ingredients listed, like sulfites? You could be reacting to that. If oat flour was used (but wouldn't it have to be disclosed?), you could be reacting to that. Or there could be cross contamination. Or there could be some pollen around you now

Nothing like a definite answer, huh You might email or call the company making the dried mango & see if there is a CC potential.

It is aggravating I know. Last night I had fresh veggies & fruit, olive oil, brown rice & a seasoning packet specifically labeled as gluten free. I had a reaction. So was it the seasoning packet (they lied) or the brown rice (I see now it is processed in the same facility with wheat).

[ravenwoodglass]

If oat flour was used (but wouldn't it have to be disclosed?),

No it wouldn't. If fact if wheat was not an ingredient but was used in the processing that would not need to be disclosed either.

Unfortunately the food labeling that is required kind of drops the ball on this issue. We are putting a lot of trust in labeling laws that have improved but still have a ways to go.

[JennyC]

Some dried fruits are covered with various flours. I think that Dole dried fruits are safe, but you may want to call and double check.

[hathor]

I believe dusting a product with a particular flour would make that flour an intentional ingredient & thus would have to be disclosed. Of course, things that are not intended to show up in the final product do not have to be disclosed, even if they regularly do show up.

It's been a bit since I read the law and commentary on it and I don't seem to have saved my links.

[nobodyzsukey]

Interesting. I recently ran across a list of what folks eating gluten free can eat, should check out, or should avoid, and it put dried fruit in the "avoid" list. I started a thread on several different forums about this. Some said the list must be old & was obviously inaccurate (it had some other goofy things on there). Others said they had heard of dried fruit being dusted with flour or flour being on the conveyor belts to avoid sticking. But then people responded that any wheat used in this way would have to show up on the label and, besides, wheat flour is sticky because it contains gluten. Why use it?

My stab at internet research found mention of oat flour sometimes being used in this fashion. I haven't found any definite proof of wheat flour being used.

Have you had much mango before? You could be reacting to that. Are there any other ingredients listed, like sulfites? You could be reacting to that. If oat flour was used (but wouldn't it have to be disclosed?), you could be reacting to that. Or there could be cross contamination. Or there could be some pollen around you now

Nothing like a definite answer, huh You might email or call the company making the dried mango & see if there is a CC potential.

It is aggravating I know. Last night I had fresh veggies & fruit, olive oil, brown rice & a seasoning packet specifically labeled as gluten free. I had a reaction. So was it the seasoning packet (they lied) or the brown rice (I see now it is processed in the same facility with wheat).

Thank you for posting this. I am up late and miserable due to a week's worth of eating dried apricots, never having figured out that they might be the culprit. This is so beyond frustrating.

I bought them in bulk, and I guess I assumed that they were bulk like at a farmer's market. Stupid me, right? I should assume I guess that I am always being lied to by anyone who makes food out of my eyesight. Ugh. Sorry, just so tired of this. I'm trying to stick to a diet that requires I stay off sugar and have been doing okay on it (lost 10 lbs) but I need SOMETHING sweet, you know? And to buy anything like dried fruit that is not bulk means paying an arm and a leg.

In this great country I live in (U.S.A.) it often seems to me that to be healthy one must also be wealthy. That is more sickening to me than the cross-contaminated dried apricots (3lbs worth) which I must now give away. I can't even count how much food I've given away due to issues like these. (My HMO won't give me any kind of Dietician on the grounds they "have no one who knows anything about Celiac Disease"!) .

And maybe I'll just throw in the towel and go back to Hershey's Kisses. At least I know they are gluten free. So what if I'm overweight, right? I'm poor, what do I expect?

I really did not think that dried apricots in bulk could have gluten in them....but I AM one of those who is extremely sensitive to cross contamination and I have been sicker in the last week than I ever have before after 3 years of being completely gluten free. I guess I should just be happy I am not my d-in-law's brother who DIED due to food allergies 3 weeks before his 21st birthday. He was not Celiac and his allergies were at the level of anaphylactic, but still! His step parent bought the food and just made ONE mistake. I really think that the FDA should be held responsible for holding all food and/or drug manufacturers and producers responsible for labeling everything with ALL the ingredients, don't you?

Still, I do appreciate the information. Just thought that after 3 years of being gluten free I could do something else with my time other than constantly have to read the "right" boards with the "right" information in order to keep myself from being poisoned! I have to be grateful this didn't kill me, I suppose.

[nobodyzsukey]

Hi All:

I was doing really well, then introduced some dried mangoes I got from the health food store and started feeling yukky. At first I thought it was from eating too many of the sickly sweet things, but my sinuses started acting up after 2 1/2 months of being gluten-free and no sinus headaches.

Have any of you heard of dried fruit being contaminated with gluten? Crazy.

Thanks!

Thank you for starting this thread.

[kareng]

Thank you for starting this thread.

Just an FYI.

This thread is 5 years old. Practices and ingredients change in that period of time.

If you are buying from bulk bins there is a very real risk of cc from bins that contain gluten products. People may use the same scooper from bin to bin. Stuff may get dropped into the bin. I have seen people grab food out of bins with thier bare fingers. The kinds that hand on the wall and dispense into the bag are likely safer.

[nobodyzsukey]

Just an FYI.

This thread is 5 years old. Practices and ingredients change in that period of time.

If you are buying from bulk bins there is a very real risk of cc from bins that contain gluten products. People may use the same scooper from bin to bin. Stuff may get dropped into the bin. I have seen people grab food out of bins with thier bare fingers. The kinds that hand on the wall and dispense into the bag are likely safer.

I appreciate the thoughts.

Is there a problem with adding to a 5 year old thread? (I'm still a newbie of sorts here at this forum anyway)

Actually, the issue of gluten in dried fruits is something I researched thoroughly because of what just happened to me this last week in September of 2012. And I found out that mass production of dried fruits in the U.S.A. anyway, are dusted with wheat flour or oat flour in order to keep them from sticking to the conveyors that move them. This is where the gluten is coming from currently on dried fruits according to my research.

[kareng]

No, there is nothing wrong with adding to old threads. What I am trying to warn you and any others that now see it (because it is now bumped up to new), is that product ingredients, and manufacturing practices are not always the same 5 years later. Also, sometimes people don't realize how old it is and expect the people on the thread to reply to them. I have had PMs from new members saying how rude the OP was for not replying.

[psawyer]

Gluten has adhesive properties. That is why it gives the great texture it does to baked goods. Wheat flour gets sticky when wet.

I'm not saying somebody wouldn't try flour as an anti-stick agent, but it wouldn't work--so they would not continue to use it.

The most common anti-stick agent is cellulose, which is from tree pulp and is gluten-free.

In the US and Canada, if wheat flour was dusted onto the product, it would be considered an ingredient, and the word "wheat" would be required to appear on the label under current rules.

[Lynchburg]

Two days ago I ate dried apricots that I purchased from a chain grocery store.  While labeled without a brand name, its packaging was that of 'bulk' dried fruits and nuts.  I had a terrible response to it that lasted two days.  The fruit was the only untried food that I had introduced, so I turned to this site to see if others had encountered problems with dried apricots.  Today is January 3, 2014.  Noting the dates of the previous posts about the subject, I am writing just to state that the issue continues despite the growing awareness of gluten and wheat intolerances in the food industry.

[Lynchburg]

I forgot to mention that the labeling on the apricots said the fruit was from Turkey and distributed by an American company.

[cyclinglady]

Two days ago I ate dried apricots that I purchased from a chain grocery store.  While labeled without a brand name, its packaging was that of 'bulk' dried fruits and nuts.  I had a terrible response to it that lasted two days.  The fruit was the only untried food that I had introduced, so I turned to this site to see if others had encountered problems with dried apricots.  Today is January 3, 2014.  Noting the dates of the previous posts about the subject, I am writing just to state that the issue continues despite the growing awareness of gluten and wheat intolerances in the food industry.

I tend to react to sulfer dioxide and sulfites, you might consider that. Chances are, it was because they were repackaged by store employees (cc issues).

[BelleVie]

Interesting. I recently ran across a list of what folks eating gluten free can eat, should check out, or should avoid, and it put dried fruit in the "avoid" list. I started a thread on several different forums about this. Some said the list must be old & was obviously inaccurate (it had some other goofy things on there). Others said they had heard of dried fruit being dusted with flour or flour being on the conveyor belts to avoid sticking. But then people responded that any wheat used in this way would have to show up on the label and, besides, wheat flour is sticky because it contains gluten. Why use it?

My stab at internet research found mention of oat flour sometimes being used in this fashion. I haven't found any definite proof of wheat flour being used.

Have you had much mango before? You could be reacting to that. Are there any other ingredients listed, like sulfites? You could be reacting to that. If oat flour was used (but wouldn't it have to be disclosed?), you could be reacting to that. Or there could be cross contamination. Or there could be some pollen around you now

Nothing like a definite answer, huh You might email or call the company making the dried mango & see if there is a CC potential.

It is aggravating I know. Last night I had fresh veggies & fruit, olive oil, brown rice & a seasoning packet specifically labeled as gluten free. I had a reaction. So was it the seasoning packet (they lied) or the brown rice (I see now it is processed in the same facility with wheat).

 

Hathor, I just wanted to tell you that I've also been sick several times from brown rice not labeled gluten free. I think it's maybe transported in shared containers…or maybe it's washed along with barley grains….who knows? It's in Korea, so I can't call the company to check. But I'm doing much better using only certified gluten free rice.  

[psawyer]

Hathor, I just wanted to tell you that I've also been sick several times from brown rice not labeled gluten free.

This is an old topic. Hathor was last logged on in 2008.

[BelleVie]

oops, my bad. It got bumped up and I didn't check the date. Anyway, the info is there should someone else need it.