Food Labels

[gf4life]

I found out some pretty frightening information last night. It came in an e-mail about a gluten free product I had asked about. This proves that we can't always trust the labels, either.

The FDA allows you to "run out" your labels though, because it's too expensive to throw away preprinted labels.

This means that if a company starts adding a gluten ingredient, they don't have to change the label until they run out of old ones! Thats scary. I wonder if that applies to the common allergens like wheat, dairy, nuts etc.

Just thought I'd pass on the warning.

Mariann

[Guest jhmom]

Mariann, that is a very frightening thought!

On top of this I received a letter in the mail today regarding the email I sent to Congress about the food labeling. This is the highlight I would like to point out to each of you.

New labeling requirements could be very helpful to individuals suffering from severe food allergies, allowing them to avoid potential life-threatening illnesses.  However, I have reservations about the cost associated with imposing yet more new federal regulations on food manufacturers.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS????? I mean come on who gives a crap about what it would cost the food manufacturers?!?!?! I think OUR health is MORE important than that!!!!! I am so MAD right now I could scream!!!

I will be contacting this office personally and letting them know exactly how I feel. I think our government should be a little more concerned about the American people than the food manufacturers.

Sorry for the ranting I am just a little upset right now.

[Kim]

You may be even more upset to learn that Congress is considering cutting wheat from the list of covered allergens in the food labelling bill. At least, this is what my representative wrote back to me when I sent her email supporting the cause.

Also, I understand that sugar corn pops will be adding malt to their cereal. It's not a great idea to eat cereals manufactured on shared lines, but for those who do, and who eat corn pops, you may wish to verify they are still gluten-free.

[Guest jhmom]

What is wrong with these people, if they could only walk a day in our shoes......

Kelloggs Corn Pops has added "wheat starch" to their formula effective mid Jan 2004, so they are no longer safe for us anymore, not unless you can find the old formula still on the shelf, but I would be very leary now since I read what Mariann wrote about company's using their old labels till they run out.

[GFdoc]

Wow thanks for the info...I was eating sugar pops daily when I was first diagnosed ( i miss my old cheerios) Now I usually eat oatmeal...I guess I stop the corn pops (no great loss - I might add- the stuff is not exactly healthy!)

Maybe we need to organize ourselves and all write to our congressmen and women!

Sara

[gf4life]

Maybe we need to organize ourselves and all write to our congressmen and women!

Open Original Shared Link

Use the link above to find the post that will let you do just that! Jessica (angel_jd1) is very good at keeping this going. We all need to do our part to get the labeling laws secured for the benefit of those current on the gluten-free diet and those to come!

As for the corn pops, I would check the manufacture date, instead of the ingredients list, if you still are interested in eating them. Anything before January 2004 should be okay.

God bless,

Mariann

[GFdoc]

Thanks! I went to the site you mentioned above and sent off my email letters! So easy to do, with the letters preprinted all you have to do is put in your name and press send. I hope I'm not too late....Sara

[Lily]

I sent my letters off too, a big THANK YOU to whoever set it up to make it so easy

Lily

[joemoe003]

I was told that hydrogenated soy bean oil is really bad for peeps with celiac disease. is regular soy bean oil bad for peeps with celiac disease to?

tell me know! Thanx!

[njlawtonuk]

hello all,

i'm surprised at a lot of these responses. in the UK the EU food labelling directive is being revised at the end of 2005 where upto ten allergens must be listed on labels of every food product. these allergens will include, gluten, milk, eggs, nuts, sesame seeds, celery, soya and a few others.

they are also changing some of these current rules regarding food labelling. at present a rule known as the 25% rule is in force. this states that any ingredient that makes up less than 25% of the overall product does not have to be listed in the ingredients. thankfully this rule is now being abolished and all ingredients of what ever quantity must be listed from the end of 2005.

its frightening to think that these rules are not going to be renowned worldwide, especially when travelling to foreign countries. i guess an extra suit case for my travel pasta will always be part of my luggage!

[justmel74]

Malto-meal corn pops have no ingredients in them that I can see that would contain gluten...however, I didnt have a good reaction to them, so proceed with caution. I figured perhaps cross-contamination? Of course, I've only been doing this for a few weeks and I have my good days and not so good days, and it could have been anything.

[SadiesMomma]

YIKES!!!!!

[Mom22]

Is Post Fruity Pebbles gluten free?

[gf4life]

YES they are! The Post Cocoa Pebbles are also gluten-free.

Malt-O-Meal Cocoa Dino-bites and Fruity Dino-bites are also both gluten-free.

God bless,

Mariann

[Mom22]

Mariann,

Thanks for the information. I have been calling so many manufacturers at this point. I have never heard of the Malt brand. I live on the East Coast. Is that something you can get at Wal-mart or is that a gluten-free brand name.

[gf4life]

Malt-O-Meal is a brand name. I don't know if it is the same on the East Coast, but I think it is. Most supermarkets carry them. They come in bags instead of boxes and usually have products identical to the other (more expensive) name brands. They currently only make 4 gluten free cereals and they DO NOT say gluten free on the bag. You can see their gluten free list on their website and find out if they sell it anywhere near you.

Open Original Shared Link

This is from their site:

Q: Which cereals are gluten-free?

A: Currently, we produce four gluten-free cereals:

 

[Mom22]

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out this weekend when I go grocery shopping.

[glen4cindy]

Mariann, that is a very frightening thought! 

On top of this I received a letter in the mail today regarding the email I sent to Congress about the food labeling.  This is the highlight I would like to point out to each of you.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?????  I mean come on who gives a crap about what it would cost the food manufacturers?!?!?!  I think OUR health is MORE important than that!!!!!  I am so MAD right now    I could scream!!! 

I will be contacting this office personally and letting them know exactly how I feel.  I think our government should be a little more concerned about the American people than the food manufacturers.

Sorry for the ranting I am just a little upset right now.

COST??????

They really have to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cost.

Let's see.........how much can it possibly cost to add the line "CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS" which I think would be adequate, to each package? I mean, I don't have any idea how each box is printed, but, surely it cannot even really cost that much. AS if COST should even be a factor!

Lets get serious. I cannot even see how that could even suggest to be an issue when a manufacturer will print a warning about PEANUTS on a candy bar that contains peanuts. Ya know, if the candy HAS peanuts IN it, then it is OBVIOUS that it was manufactured in a plant that also handles PEANUTS!

I am going to start a letter writing campaign. I think I will write a letter to every possible legislator that I can, even ones that are NOT in my district, and areas. This may seem excessive, but, if these legislators can see that we are willing to spend some money in communicating our feelings to them, maybe they will stop considering what it might cost to force manufacturers to add a 27 character warning to save our health!

[crc0622]

Keep in mind when you start the anger-mail that many companies who cannot absolutely certify that their items contain no wheat will have to start putting "may contain wheat" on their labels just to CYA. Those Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles, Corn Puffs, Malt-o-meal cereals, etc. you can almost be assured they would have to do that because they all warn about cross-contamination. It's a risk that you currently choose to take, but would you if it says on the label "may contain wheat"?? It's not just cereals - think of all the multitude of companies making every kind of product on our shelves who would have to start labelling this way - Kraft, Hershey, ConAgra, General Mills - companies we rely on to be straight with us. But if there is the slightest chance of CC, it would have to say "may contain wheat."

Yes, we want some reasonable ideas about what is in our manufactured food, but if you do it in the way that it sounds from this thread, they'll start labeling it as such even when it may not be so. Even the labelling law which just passed did not include barley and rye as major allergens, so we'd still have to be on the lookout for them. And it did not include toiletries and probably never will.

Proceed with caution, and don't over-exagerate the conquences. It is not like an anaphylactic peanut allergy.

Celeste

[lovegrov]

Let's settle down. The legislation passed and the companies have to comply by 2006. That battle is over.

richard

[crc0622]

Richard,

We can always count on you to be the voice of reason, no matter which forum you are on! Thank you.

Celeste