Label Question

[Cheryl-C]

Hi folks,

I did my first "big grocery shopping" since going gluten-free...that was fun, took me probably twice as long due to all the reading and blackberry googling. Anyway, I just had a couple of questions:

Lechtins - I might not be spelling that correctly. I keep seeing "soy lechtins" and then also "lechtins"...what is this? Is this something to be concerned about?

Emulsephiers - also probably not spelled correctly, sorry. Is this a gluten thing or a gluten-free thing.

I wish everything would either say "gluten free" or "contains gluten," just for the sake of simplicity. Labels in ENGLISH please

[Skylark]

Lecithin or soy lecithin and emulsifiers are not gluten things and are safe to eat. Lecithin is a type of fat, often made from soy or egg yolk, and it helps keep baked goods soft and gives a smooth texture to foods like chocolate. It's good for your nervous system too. Emulsifiers are either fats (lecithin is sometimes used as an emulsifier) or chemicals that help keep oil and water mixed in foods like mayonnaise.

If you want labels in English, you might prefer organic foods. It's a little scary in general eating things you can't hardly pronounce.

[psawyer]

Of that long list of ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names, there are very few which contain gluten. Organic foods will have shorter ingredient lists, and higher prices, but are not necessarily less likely to contain gluten. Wheat and barley are grown organically, just like other crops.

[Cheryl-C]

Thanks for the information, much appreciated.

My biggest beef with organic foods is how much they cost. I'm not married (so one income only) and I don't quite work full-time hours. Therefore, not exactly rolling in money. I know that a lot of people swear by organic food because they're supposed to be a purer product (and I like eating things I can pronounce) but it's not always affordable.

I think everything - EVERYTHING - should just either say "contains gluten" or "does not contain gluten" to keep people informed and help protect against accidental glutenings. I hate feeling like I need a degree in chem just to buy food

[psawyer]

After ten years at the game, I hsve become good at spotting hidden gluten. But, for beginners, you might want to look to mainstream food manufacturers who have a gluten disclosure policy. That is, if an ingredient from a gluten grain is present, they will always clearly disclose it. So you don't have to understand every ingredient, you just look for any of the words wheat, rye, barely, or oats. If you don't see those words, the food does not contain gluten.

Here's a link to a list. The listed companies apply this disclosure policy wherever they operate.

[kareng]

I have found that some mainstream brands have normal understandable ingredients. Now that I'm reading labels for gluten, I realized that there are a lot of crazy stuff added. Like 1 salsa ingredients: tomatoes, onions, peppers, salt, citric acid. Another : all of those plus autolyzed something, chemical named something else. They both taste good. You can find simplier ingredients but you have to read all of the ones on the shelf. I got some really cute reading glasses at WF.