Sick After Eating Ham.

[jodene]

Several months ago I concluded that I am gluten intolerant (and have been lactose intolerant for years). On 3 occasions in the last month I have felt ill an hour or two after eating ham. The ingredients do not list any gluten ingredients, however ingredients have included "Natural Flavours" and "Smoke Flavours".

Has anyone else had adverse effects with Natural or Smoke Flavours?

I live in Canada - would they need to list gluten if it was an ingredient in one of these mystery flavours?

Thank you!

[Lisa]

I would contact the company and inquire about their gluten status. Or, don't eat the ham anymore.

[NorthernElf]

I'm in Canada too and as a rule I don't eat ham or any packaged meats...EXCEPT the ham I can buy at Costco that clearly states "gluten free" on it (they have pepperoni too - Grimms). Watch the best before dates though - you buy a good size package of the ham and it expires (it seems) fairly quickly. I freeze the pepperoni and it freezes well.

I find it's like Russian Roullette - some hams have it, some don't, none of it labelled. "Natural flavors" can hide gluten.

[MN-Newbie]

I am not sure if this is true for Canada, but Hormel has a large list of gluten free meats on their website and they claim to not hide gluten in "flavorings". Do the product locator link and look on the right for the G.F. list. I had some the other night on a grilled cheese (makes G.F. bread so good!) and felt fine. I hope that helps!

[gfp]

Several months ago I concluded that I am gluten intolerant (and have been lactose intolerant for years). On 3 occasions in the last month I have felt ill an hour or two after eating ham. The ingredients do not list any gluten ingredients, however ingredients have included "Natural Flavours" and "Smoke Flavours".

Has anyone else had adverse effects with Natural or Smoke Flavours?

I live in Canada - would they need to list gluten if it was an ingredient in one of these mystery flavours?

Thank you!

Laws aside.... I have found cooked hams to be russian roulette....(thanks Northern Elf)

1/ They inject gluten based thickeners in some European ones because it helps them slice more thinly without tearing.

2/ Smoke flavours (and your using the European/Canadian spelling so so will I) are usually malto-dextrine. US Malto-dextrine is safe, European malto-dextrine often isn't.

As I often say "never knowingly hide gluten" means they take great pains not to find out.

In the UK one supermarket say's "Never knowingly undersold" ... another chain has "Pricewatch" where they list prices at rivals....

The latter is far easier to prove... the former offer to reimburse you if you prove it... the trick is what they are willing to accept as proof.

I view it like Sale items... some are genuine, some are seconds and some are basically items they put into one store for one month at an inflated price simply in order to say "reduced x%' and have a disclaimer in the smallest letters possible.

The motto is read the small print....