Think We Just Had Our First 'glutening'

[concernedmamma]

Well, I think it happened. My son was dx on March 23 with Celiac and we started the Diet March 25. About 2 weeks ago we finally saw the change with a huge improvement in 'the bathroom'. Well, today they were having a 'beach party' at preschool and were having hotdogs, corn chips and salsa. I checked the labels on the chips and salsa and brought our own hot dogs. I read the label very carefully, cooked the hot dogs at home and they were served in a separate plate at school.

Tonite at supper, Jacob was complaining his tummy hurt. At bed time he had diarrhea and told me he felt like he had knots in his tummy. I have been wracking my brain to figure out where he could have been contaminated. Breakfast, lunch and supper were at home and were all complete gluten free meals (envirokids cereal and fruit for breaky, rice pasta, cheese and veggies for lunch, eggs and glutino toast with tomotoes for supper)

SO..... I went online to the hotdog website and found this.......

"Many of the Harvest Meats products such as our wieners do not have glutens added to the product, however they are produced in a room and on equipment that also produces gluten-containing products. We do have a program in place that includes such things as scheduling non-gluten-containing product before gluten containing ones whenever possible as well as complete wash down of the equipment and area between products any time a gluten containing product is produced before non-gluten containing ones. In this way we reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of products. However since there is still a slight possibility of cross contamination Harvest Meats has decided to consider these product No Glutens Added rather than Gluten Free. It should also be noted that glutens are considered a common allergen and so whenever any form of wheat is added to a product at any level it must be declared on the label. Harvest Meats also has a program in which all products are reviewed prior to label approval to ensure no wheat is in the product.

Ok...... Nothing regarding this was on the label, So how the heck do I know WHAT I can buy for him and what I can't!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I am very frustrated. How many other products are produced like this? Unless I call every single 1-800 # or call every website, how can I be sure that things are safe?

Very frustrated right now.

Kim, Mommy to 4 beautiful children.... Rebecca--age 6, Jacob and Gabriel--almost 5yr old twins, and Susanna who is almost one year old!!!!

[les.retrouvailles]

A similar thing happened to me. My son asked for chocolate bar. I looked at all the labels, all of them had barley malt on the ingredient list except for one candy bar from safeway select. I bought it. My son ate it & he got sick...

I sent an email to Safeway which confirmed that the candy bar had gluten in it but they didn't disclose it on the ingredient list...I was so mad. i filed a complain with the FDA:

Open Original Shared Link

In your case, the company should have disclosed the fact that the hot-dog was manufactured on the same assembly line as products made with wheat! You should file a complain with the FDA! It takes 10mn to do so but that's the only way they would know about it!

I encourage every parent to write a letter to the congress urging them to amend the FDA policy on food labeling. I posted my letter on the forum today.

Sorry about your son. I completely understand your frustration & ANGER!

  On 5/7/2010 at 3:54 AM, concernedmamma said:

Well, I think it happened. My son was dx on March 23 with Celiac and we started the Diet March 25. About 2 weeks ago we finally saw the change with a huge improvement in 'the bathroom'. Well, today they were having a 'beach party' at preschool and were having hotdogs, corn chips and salsa. I checked the labels on the chips and salsa and brought our own hot dogs. I read the label very carefully, cooked the hot dogs at home and they were served in a separate plate at school.

Tonite at supper, Jacob was complaining his tummy hurt. At bed time he had diarrhea and told me he felt like he had knots in his tummy. I have been wracking my brain to figure out where he could have been contaminated. Breakfast, lunch and supper were at home and were all complete gluten free meals (envirokids cereal and fruit for breaky, rice pasta, cheese and veggies for lunch, eggs and glutino toast with tomotoes for supper)

SO..... I went online to the hotdog website and found this.......

"Many of the Harvest Meats products such as our wieners do not have glutens added to the product, however they are produced in a room and on equipment that also produces gluten-containing products. We do have a program in place that includes such things as scheduling non-gluten-containing product before gluten containing ones whenever possible as well as complete wash down of the equipment and area between products any time a gluten containing product is produced before non-gluten containing ones. In this way we reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of products. However since there is still a slight possibility of cross contamination Harvest Meats has decided to consider these product No Glutens Added rather than Gluten Free. It should also be noted that glutens are considered a common allergen and so whenever any form of wheat is added to a product at any level it must be declared on the label. Harvest Meats also has a program in which all products are reviewed prior to label approval to ensure no wheat is in the product.

Ok...... Nothing regarding this was on the label, So how the heck do I know WHAT I can buy for him and what I can't!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I am very frustrated. How many other products are produced like this? Unless I call every single 1-800 # or call every website, how can I be sure that things are safe?

Very frustrated right now.

Kim, Mommy to 4 beautiful children.... Rebecca--age 6, Jacob and Gabriel--almost 5yr old twins, and Susanna who is almost one year old!!!!

[T.H.]

Sadly, you've pretty much hit the nail on the head: the only way to make sure it's safe is to call the company.

The 'made on equipment/in a room that also processes wheat' is actually a completely voluntary label on the part of companies - no legislation about it - so they never have to put that on the label at all. We're forced to ask about it. :-(

The 'gluten free' label, currently, doesn't have as much meaning as you'd think. There is NO law in effect about it. They passed a law about what it would take to make something gluten free, but the last I read (last month), the details about how much gluten is 'gluten free' is still being hashed out, so the law hasn't gone into effect yet, ugh. Many companies have noted down what the law will require, in terms of preventing contamination and such, and are following that. However, some companies (Annie's is one I hear of the most) have 'gluten free' products that many celiacs say they are still reacting to.

And even if you call? A lot of times they'll just read off a paper for you: Oh, this is gluten free. And really, it's that the product doesn't have gluten ingredients, but you have to ask about the room it's processed in, the machinery, and so on to make sure that it's gluten free.

I didn't do any of this when I was first diagnosed, but turns out me and my daughter are both very sensitive, so if we don't check, we really pay for it later. :-( Just got zapped by an ice cream that a number of gluten-free blogs listed as gluten free, but when my daughter got sick, we checked the company's site, and it talks about how it adds no gluten ingredients, but it still processes wheat products on the same line. Ugh.

So sorry you're little one got sick, though!

Although, just in case Harvest isn't the culprit? Did the chips say gluten free, or did they just not list gluten ingredients? Potato and corn chips, and corn tortillas, are REALLY easy to get glutened on. They are almost all made by companies that process gluten containing chips (usually ones with powders on them) or flour tortillas in the same room, if not the same equipment, as the chips. Very few corn chips are actually safe. And many corn tortillas use flour in their molds, so the flour isn't listed as an ingredient, because it's part of the processing, not the ingredients.

Not fun.

Also...were the chips and salsa shared? Maybe a child played with playdough and then touched the chips and contaminated them? That could be a possibility, too, maybe?

In any case, good luck! WE all know just how difficult this is to adjust to, and wish you well!

  On 5/7/2010 at 3:54 AM, concernedmamma said:

Well, I think it happened. My son was dx on March 23 with Celiac and we started the Diet March 25. About 2 weeks ago we finally saw the change with a huge improvement in 'the bathroom'. Well, today they were having a 'beach party' at preschool and were having hotdogs, corn chips and salsa. I checked the labels on the chips and salsa and brought our own hot dogs. I read the label very carefully, cooked the hot dogs at home and they were served in a separate plate at school.

Tonite at supper, Jacob was complaining his tummy hurt. At bed time he had diarrhea and told me he felt like he had knots in his tummy. I have been wracking my brain to figure out where he could have been contaminated. Breakfast, lunch and supper were at home and were all complete gluten free meals (envirokids cereal and fruit for breaky, rice pasta, cheese and veggies for lunch, eggs and glutino toast with tomotoes for supper)

SO..... I went online to the hotdog website and found this.......

"Many of the Harvest Meats products such as our wieners do not have glutens added to the product, however they are produced in a room and on equipment that also produces gluten-containing products. We do have a program in place that includes such things as scheduling non-gluten-containing product before gluten containing ones whenever possible as well as complete wash down of the equipment and area between products any time a gluten containing product is produced before non-gluten containing ones. In this way we reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of products. However since there is still a slight possibility of cross contamination Harvest Meats has decided to consider these product No Glutens Added rather than Gluten Free. It should also be noted that glutens are considered a common allergen and so whenever any form of wheat is added to a product at any level it must be declared on the label. Harvest Meats also has a program in which all products are reviewed prior to label approval to ensure no wheat is in the product.

Ok...... Nothing regarding this was on the label, So how the heck do I know WHAT I can buy for him and what I can't!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I am very frustrated. How many other products are produced like this? Unless I call every single 1-800 # or call every website, how can I be sure that things are safe?

Very frustrated right now.

Kim, Mommy to 4 beautiful children.... Rebecca--age 6, Jacob and Gabriel--almost 5yr old twins, and Susanna who is almost one year old!!!!