Cross-Contamination?

[BrooklynFamily]

Hello Again,

I'm going through the process of contacting many companies about whether or not their product is gluten-free. At this point, I'm mostly dealing with our personal products in the bathroom. I'm running into a lot of responses where they say that their product is gluten-free (i.e. contains no gluten ingredients), but they can't guarantee that the ingredients never met or were contaminated before they got to the factory by gluten ingredients. I feel like this is just their way of protecting themselves from lawsuits, but at the same time, I don't want to accidentally gluten my 2-year old son. Obviously if anything is showing up in their ingredient list, I'm tossing it out. But, how do I deal with the responses I'm getting? Are you throwing those items out as well?

[psawyer]

I feel like this is just their way of protecting themselves from lawsuits

Yep.

The truth is that no company can make a guarantee that something they bought from a third party did not get contaminated while beyond their control. Not only do I not worry about these statements, I fully expect them from everybody.

[BrooklynFamily]

Yep.

The truth is that no company can make a guarantee that something they bought from a third party did not get contaminated while beyond their control. Not only do I not worry about these statements, I fully expect them from everybody.

So, do you use the products where they make these statements?

[psawyer]

Yes, I do. As I said, I expect these statements from all manufacturers.

An honest guarantee will be qualified by the test used, so a maker could guarantee no more than, say, 20 ppm. The lowest level that can be tested for is 5 ppm. Most mainstream companies don't test at all, so they cannot make any guarantee.

[scarlett77]

I have found that the things hardest to figure out were the non-food items. There are some companies I would trust over others since some actually do care to make it a point to be brutally honest about their ingredients, factories, and production lines. I also Google search to see what other Celiacs have to say about products or product lines. Yes it is true no company can ever guarantee something like that. Which is why you will hear a disclaimer on everything. I recently went to Disneyland and they put out a list of places and items that are "safe" for those with wheat/gluten issues. They have a disclaimer at the bottom stating that it is YOUR responsibility to verify everything and that they take reasonable steps to prevent CC issues...but it cannot be guaranteed. Did that stop us from eating...no, but I did do research before I went about eating at Disney, and chose options that I believed would be less likely to be CC'd.

Like I said I usually use a 3 step system: 1) look at the ingredients, 2) contact the company, and 3) google it to see what others have to say about it.

BTW-My son is 2 also and was diagnosed just before his 2nd birthday. I know how overwhelming some of this can be. And don't get discouraged there will be set backs...I'm still learning some things. Last month I learned that wheat is a source for vitamin E and thus used in many beauty products.

[nickim]

What ingredient in soaps and bathroom supplies should I look for? Not sure what is not good for Celiacs in these products?

[scarlett77]

Look for things with Vitamin E (AKA Tocopheryl) or "tri" words such as "triticum" which means wheat. Not all "tri" words are wheat though so you do need to do some homework on them. Some brands are better at being up front with labeling by actually stating things like "wheat" on their labels. I tend to trust more in those brands along with user feedback.

[nickim]

Look for things with Vitamin E (AKA Tocopheryl) or "tri" words such as "triticum" which means wheat. Not all "tri" words are wheat though so you do need to do some homework on them. Some brands are better at being up front with labeling by actually stating things like "wheat" on their labels. I tend to trust more in those brands along with user feedback.

Do you know if they any of the regular cosmetics for ex. mabelline, loreal, cover girl, etc are gluten free?

[scarlett77]

CoverGirl will clearly list when ingredients on their labels and are very forthcoming about which products are safe/unsafe if you ask them. Neutragena is also pretty open. For face makeup I use Bare Minerals. Other than that I pretty much stick with CG & Neutragena.

I don't use Loreal or Mabelline products in general. I don't usually like their formulations anyway.