Product Database?

[Guest Can I Eat That???]

Just wondering....since I have now been diagnosed with Celiac's and find the thought of losing basically my entire menu of foods unacceptable....is there, or could there be someone with enough computer savvy (read database programmer), time (with help from the Celiac community), and (most of all) *INTEREST* in making a database or google type equivalent for our every day products? I don't know if there is one already (I've seen some websites with some items listed as OK, but item listings are minimal at best) and if there is could someone post a link?

Short of getting the national law makers to require food manufacturers to not only list ingredients and nutritional values but to have that include one tiny.....little....."blurb" or logo stating it is gluten-free(gluten free) and seeing as how most of us are independantly researching every item we consider to eat (some with the help of a dietician) wouldn't it be nice to at least have a resource for common foods and products that would alert or allow us to view those ....EASILY??? I mean it's great that resources like this are out there to at least provide some light on what foods are going to harm us or not. I know that's come from alot of phone calls, chemical and food researching, and other various inquisitive techniques, but I WOULD LOVE to be able to have a tool to type in...."Snickers"....click on.....Search....and have it come back......GLUTEN FREE! or UNSAFE(in big bold red letters).

Anyways.....

Anyone know of something like this?

[psawyer]

Hi, and welcome to the board.

I have been on the diet almost nine years now.

Lists of gluten-free products sound good, but because of constantly changing formulas, they have problems. If a formula has changed, the package you have may not match the one the list is about.

For example, recently, a number of Chex cereals were reformulated to be gluten-free. The older product is still in many stores. Only by looking at the label and ingredients can you tell whether you have the new, gluten-free, version, or the older one with the barley in it.

Open Original Shared Link have some material similar to what you describe for sale, for US products.

Try these links for useful free information:

Unsafe ingredients.

Safe ingredients.

Open Original Shared Link If you don't see "wheat, rye, barley, barley malt, oats" on the labels, its not there, or hidden in "flavors, starches, etc."

As I said, I am not a supporter of lists--they are out of date the minute that you print them. A database would be the same, as formulas are constantly changing. That is why I like to buy from companies who will label clearly (see the last link above). Always read the label.

[Lisa]

I would recommend www.triumphdining.com Grocery Guide. It lists over 30,000 main stream product and it is issued every year, with current, confirmed products.

I sure wish that I had it the first years I was diagnosed. After the first you, you should have learned to read labels. As Peter mentioned, depending on lists has major problems with accuracy.

[BooParks]

This was a life saver for me when I first started out on the gluten-free diet. Go to Delphiforums.com. Click on the health section on the left hand row of options. Find Celiac on the list of options there and click on that. At times it will then bring you to a page that is an advertisment. Just go down and click cancel and you will be in the Celiac forum. Go to the products lists and there is a ton of information and products that are checked every few months to verify if they are safe. Again.. even with this do read the ingrediants to make sure they havn't added anything or changed thigs up. Kraft will list all gluten containing ingrediants. Whole foods are always safe and you will get the nutriants you need from the whole fruits and vegits. There are many recipies on line if you "Google" and put in Gluten Free recipies. You can even break it down and put in "gluten-free Chicken recipies" or whatever you're looking for. It will get easier with time and you will be able to go to the grocery store and just pick out what you like just as you did before, only gluten-free stuff. And somethings you will just know you have to look at those ingrediants again or check with the manufacturer. There is also a celiac List Serve. With this you get tons of information and there are people who have some really good information that is accurate. The problem is you also get people who post that give false information or are so sensitive to anyone telling them what they havbeen eating and enjoy has gluten in it that they will go off. The link is CELIAC@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG and you can sign up there. The updated posts get sent to your email, so you will get tons of email. I've found that in the 8 years since I was diagnosed my biggest probelm and chances of being contaiminated are through prescription drugs. Some will argue me on this but I've had three cases of this in the past 2 years alone and one case the lab that manufactured the drug actually told my pharmacist it was gluten-free before I took it and it made me very ill. When he called back and pressed the issue they said that it did have some wheat startch but they felt it was "an insignificant amount" since the tablet was so small. This has always occured with generic drugs. My insurance will not pay for name brand when a generic is available even if I can't take the generic. Hope this all helps.. I'm on Twitter as BooParks in Nashville and also have a myspace account with my favorite recipies link.. Open Original Shared Link. It's not set to private and is open for anyone to view.

[Guest Can I Eat That???]

Thanks everyone for the help and links. Adjustment is a pain but I'm not done belly aching. Psawyer and labels - too true as I am finding out. Thanks for the link to the safe-unsafe list. I did see that earlier in my investigation of this site, but it looks like its definitely getting printed off for referencing.

I was given a website to look at today and if it helps anyone here it is. Sorry too btw but it is Canadian content although the facts about the GI diseases wont change from person to person no matter where you live:

www.badgut.ca

Take care everyone!