Arrowhead Mills Soy Flour

[seeking-wholeness]

I just had a nasty reaction to Arrowhead Mills soy flour. I opened a new bag yesterday, and it was the only suspicious food I ate all day. I know they DON'T use separate lines for their gluten-free flours.

I am really MAD about this--especially since I am sensitive to eggs and have found that soy flour really improves the quality of egg-free gluten-free baked goods! It infuriates me that I CAN'T FIND an OK brand of soy flour! Bob's Red Mill soy flour is processed on the GLUTEN LINES, so I can't trust it, and I have a hard time finding the only other brand I know about (Fearn--and I haven't even checked on the possibility of cross-contamination there yet).

GRRR.... If anybody knows of a safe soy flour, please let me know! Thanks!

--Sarah

[tarnalberry]

Bob's said they are careful about cleaning their lines, and I've never reacted to their soy flour. (Finding a dedicated line is hard, as they're expensive.)

[taneil]

Do you know if your might be having a reaction to Soy? I can't have soy because it messed with my hormones.

[seeking-wholeness]

taneil,

I doubt I am reacting to soy, since I have made these same recipes using soy before with no reaction whatsoever. I also eat tofu with no problem.

My reaction was identical to the first ones I ever had, which were all triggered by barley (not wheat), so I strongly suspect contamination of the lines. Actually, I personally suspect that trying to wash barley off of the equipment is futile--that stuff is incredibly sticky when wet! I bet they'd have better results blasting the equipment with air!

--Sarah

[tarnalberry]

I recall seeing posts in the past noting trouble with Arrowhead Mills and cross contamination issues. Not as bad as the Lay's reputation, but still...

[Nadtorious]

I worked at a health food store for a while and we received numerous customer complaints regarding Arrowhead Mills. I haven't looked in a while because I don't use their products, but I recall that they can only say their products are "made with non-gluten ingredients", NOT gluten free. Funny, because they make a couple "gluten free" baking mixes, but they're not actually "gluten free". What's the point???

[seeking-wholeness]

I know. It's ridiculous!

--Sarah

[debmidge]

We had to stop using all of Arrowhead Mill products because of cross-contam problems. This is really a problem because they are touted as "Ok" by dietitians and nutrionists and health food store workers. Only celiacs know the truth.

Perhaps you can find soy flour made by Ener-G? They have website.

[seeking-wholeness]

Thanks, debmidge! I'll check it out.

My situation just got more complicated, though, and it turns out that the soy flour may not have been the culprit after all. It's so frustrating! The timeline went as follows:

1.) made muffins using new bag of soy flour

2.) placed muffins on cooling rack right next to stove; ate muffin

3.) made brown rice pasta from Trader Joe's for dinner (with homemade Sicilian broccoflower topping that was definitely inherently gluten-free)

4.) ate dinner

5.) went to bed feeling fine

6.) woke up the next morning having to RUN to the bathroom, with nausea and rotten-egg burps

Yesterday, I had the leftover pasta for lunch--and today I woke up with gas, a twinge of nausea, and very loose stools, a slightly less intense version of the same reaction.

So it must have been cross-contamination of the pasta, although there is a chance that muffin crumbs found their way into the meal. Still, if we're only talking a few crumbs containing a trace of gluten, I don't imagine my reaction would have been that intense. I'm just SO confused! I suppose now I'll have to test a muffin, since I don't really want to waste money by unnecessarily throwing out a brand-new bag of flour.

And I'm even more confused because all of my previous similar reactions were triggered by barley, not wheat, and my recent reactions (I assume to wheat, since it is harder to avoid) have been very different in character. (I thought I was getting less reactive as I healed, but apparently not!) Yet I would expect that pasta would be contaminated with wheat, not barley! The soy flour could easily have been contaminated with barley, but it doesn't seem likely to have been the culprit anymore! What gives?

Sigh. I hate dealing with this.

--Sarah