Company Cannot Guarantee Product Is Gluten Free

[cnosmom]

Hi,

I'm new here. I'm a mom to 2 kids....my 18 mo I suspect is gluten intolerant so I started him gluten-free in Sept 08. I don't know my gluten status but I am nursing him still so I'm gluten free too. I got an enterolab test for my 3.5 yr old...she is gluten intolerant and has 2 genes. She just started being gluten-free about 10 days ago. Anyhow my question is....

If a company says they can't verify that a product is gluten free do you eat it? The product in question is some Barilla pasta sauce...it's just tomatoes, herbs, veggies and oil. I just ate it on a gluten-free pizza dough....should I not have done that??

Thanks,

Alexandra

[psawyer]

This question has been discussed many times, and there is no consensus among the members here, but most do understand what that statement means.

It means that the company does not test its product, or its ingredients, for possible gluten content due to contamination. That is the case with almost every mainstream product there is. The company does not know for certain if there is contamination, hence there is no guarantee.

A guarantee would make the company legally responsible if contamination were to occur at some point in the process. Any corporate legal department would forbid such a thing.

[Lisa]

I would eat a product, providing I checked the ingredients as listed and it was not produced a a facility that produced other products that included wheat as an ingredient.

Often times, it's a CYA Statement. Combined information would make a good choice.

[MaryJones2]

I agree with Lisa and Peter. The best advice I can give is to try it and if it makes you ill then avoid it in the future. There is a lot of trial and error involved in the beginning. You'll find that you can tolerate some things labeled like that but not others and it differs from person to person.

[LuvMoosic4life]

If there are no ingredients in the product that contain gluten and it does not cause me any problems I will eat it. Normally I stay away from products produced on the same lines as wheat products, unless the company says they are tested, but there are some products that do not cause me problems.

For ex. Frito lay does not test thier products but has a gluten-free list, though stating that the production lines are shared. I do not have a reaction to thier santitas chips, so I occasionally buy them. There are actually some procts labeled gluten-free by other companies and produced on the same lines that have caused me problems......I guess it all depends on how sensitive you are. If you are a person who doesnt have any reaction to gluten, but has celiac I would play it safe and make sure everything is 100% gluten-free. I have obvious reactions even to small amounts....

[mamaw]

We have used Barilla since it first came into the market with no problems. I feel it is safe. hth

mamaw