Bleu Cheese In Whole Foods Premade Salads

[chiroptera]

Do you know if the bleu cheese on the Whole Foods premade Market Salad is gluten free? After eating one yesterday, my daughters and I are sick, but we also ate some ice cream which we haven't in a while so that may be the cause as well. I called Whole Foods and they checked with the deli who said "we don't know, it has potato starch." Um, okay.

thanks in advance!

[lovegrov]

Well, first you'd need to know the brand to find out whether the culture for that brand is even started on bread. Most aren't these days.

Even if it is started on bread, there's strong reason to doubt there'd be measurable gluten. No one actually knows whether any of the part that harms us actually transfers to the culture, and beyond that only tiny amount of culture is used in a huge vat.

richard

[chiroptera]

Thanks! We really hope it's not the salad because they are so yummy and convenient..............

[Angi McFarland]

Thanks! We really hope it's not the salad because they are so yummy and convenient..............

To the best of my knowledge, most blue cheese is grown on rye bread as a starter and there fore has gluten. Most dressings that have "natural flavorings" have gluten too. I recenlty was gluten-poisoned from ranch dressing at my local favorite salad bar. Not all have this effect, so it is best to introduce one suspect food a day to be able to isolate the food issues.

[Lisa]

To the best of my knowledge, most blue cheese is grown on rye bread as a starter and there fore has gluten. Most dressings that have "natural flavorings" have gluten too. I recenlty was gluten-poisoned from ranch dressing at my local favorite salad bar. Not all have this effect, so it is best to introduce one suspect food a day to be able to isolate the food issues.

Andi, Please read this:

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Well, celiac sufferers need worry no more. The Canadian Celiac Association recently released a study showing that blue cheese is in fact gluten-free. The study tested three blues where the mold is harvested off of gluten-containing media during production: Quebec's St. Benoit and Alexis de Portneuf, and Roquefort. They also tested two cheeses where the mold was grown on gluten-free media.

The resulting cheeses each contained less than one part per million of gluten.

In all cases, they found that the resulting cheeses each contained less than one part per million of gluten. For comparison's sake, the current definition of "gluten-free" being considered by the FDA is 20 parts per million. This puts these well below the limits set by the FDA (as well as its European equivalent). So blue cheese is a go for celiac sufferers! Enjoy!

***

The is in refererce to cheese with a gluten starter. Currently, most blues are started with a synthetic starter, which of course, is gluten free.

I would be more worried about the cross contact from the croutons, than from the blue cheese dressing at a salad bar.

[ravenwoodglass]

If the salad was made and then packaged at the deli the blue cheese may be safe but there may be a high risk of CC because of where and how it was made.

[chiroptera]

Thanks for all your replies. I bet the cc would be a high probability.

[lovegrov]

To the best of my knowledge, most blue cheese is grown on rye bread as a starter and there fore has gluten. Most dressings that have "natural flavorings" have gluten too. I recenlty was gluten-poisoned from ranch dressing at my local favorite salad bar. Not all have this effect, so it is best to introduce one suspect food a day to be able to isolate the food issues.

In fact, most blue cheese culture is no longer "started" on bread. And, at least in the U.S., the VAST majority of "natural flavors" do not have gluten. Wheat would have to be listed and barley is only rarely a part of natural flavors.

If you were eating from a salad bar, you probably were glutened by CC, not by ranch dressing.

richard

[lovegrov]

Thank you, Lisa, for the Canadian study of blue cheese. I had believed for years that blue cheese is gluten-free, but had never seen a study. This is great.

Here's the direct link for CCA synopsis of the study.

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richard