Glutened By A Gluten Free Marshmallow?

[Poppi]

So when I was shopping for the kids easter candy I bought Reese’s mini cups, Icy Squares, chocolate coins (the foil wrapped kind) and a bag of chocolate covered marshmallow eggs that said “gluten free” on the bag.

So we did our candy hunt and I had some of the kids chocolate (it all read clean on the ingredients) and I felt awful. Definitely glutened. I figured it was anything other than the clearly labeled gluten free marshmallow eggs, right?

So today I had Udi’s cinnamon raisin bread, butter and tea for breakfast - no chance of gluten! For lunch I had more tea and a strawberry scone I made myself from scratch - again, no chance of gluten.

After my scone (yes I realize I am eating horribly today) I had one single chocolate marshmallow egg and 2 hours later I hurt all over. My stomach is fine but my back hurts, my head hurts and I’m cranky.

Feels like gluten but is that possible?

[dilettantesteph]

Of course it is possible. I can't eat much of anything processed without feeling glutened. I am sensitive to very low cc levels.

[T.H.]

Feels like gluten but is that possible?

Oh heck yeah. Best way to see how likely gluten cc would be to call them and ask the important question: do they test for gluten? If they don't, then they are in that lovely category of companies who label their products gluten free but should really say: we didn't add any gluten on purpose, for what it's worth.

Most companies that are not solely gluten free do not test. They will often avoid the question if you ask and answer that their products are completely gluten free and you have to push to get them to answer whether they test or not, and if they test every batch, or test periodically.

And then you can ask what the gluten ppm detection level was for the test they used, if you want to get really technical. Sometimes, before I ask this, they will say they test and then after I ask this, they will backpedal and redefine what they meant by 'testing.'

I've had companies very seriously inform me that their products were completely gluten free because they didn't add any gluten whatsoever to them and choose their ingredients very carefully.

My thought is: so what? Same could be said of any food made in any restaurant, and we all know that the gluten cc can mess up any claims of gluten-free lickety-split.

Shauna

[GlutenFreeManna]

Yes it is possible. PP went over the cc concern very thoroughly so I'll skip repeating that for you. You might also consider that you could be sensitive to some other ingredient in the egg. Off the top of my head--without knowing the ingredients I'm guessing that corn/corn syrup is probably the main ingredient. Everything else you ate today seems to be corn free (I'm only guessing since I don't know your scone recipe).

[Poppi]

I didn't have the bag anymore and even went to the store to see if they still had some of the candy around but they didn't and they couldn't tell me the company because the only description I had was "the marshmallow eggs in the brown bag"... not very descriptive.

My scones actually had corn flour in them so I don't think it was corn and I make myself a homemade corn tortilla with avocado and cheese on it for lunch a few times a week and feel fine after.

A lady on another site had a great suggestion for me that I will definitely be implementing. She suggested that any time I eat a processed food for the first time I cut out the ingredient panel (and write the name of the product on it) and put it in a big ziploc bag. If I get sick from it I put the ingredient panel in another bag marked "SICK!" and once I have a few items in there I can compare ingredients and see if there is anything in the sick bag that is not present in the other bag.

Worth a shot. At the least it'll help me keep track of stuff that works and stuff that doesn't.

Thanks for the info everyone. Luckily it was a fairly minor hit, I've had a off and on headache/neckache since yesterday but no joint pain or stomach issues.

[dilettantesteph]

So today I had Udi’s cinnamon raisin bread, butter and tea for breakfast - no chance of gluten!

This is in the super sensitive section. This could be corrected to "no chance of gluten over 10 ppm" - I looked it up and they are certified by GFCO which uses a 10 ppm cut off.

[Poppi]

This is in the super sensitive section. This could be corrected to "no chance of gluten over 10 ppm" - I looked it up and they are certified by GFCO which uses a 10 ppm cut off.

Huh. Learn something new every day. I guess I should have been more specific and just said it was something I hadn't reacted to in the past.

[butterfl8]

The easter candy could have been packaged on shared lines too. I've noticed that a lot.

-Daisy

[Poppi]

The easter candy could have been packaged on shared lines too. I've noticed that a lot.

-Daisy

I wish I still had the bag so I could look at the ingredients but it definitely didn't have a "may contain..." or "manufactured in the same facility..." statement. I don't buy those items. I'll have to double check but I think those statements are law in Canada or at least they will be law by 2012 and some manufacturers are phasing them in already.

Although, now that I've had this experience I've been noticing items with a "Gluten Free" label on them that also have "may contain wheat" or "manufactured in the same facility as wheat" written after the ingredients. How the heck can you call yourself gluten free if this is the case?

I noticed that on the Black Diamond Nut Thins. They say "Gluten Free" on the front and have a Celiac Disease Foundation label as well but then state that they are manufactured in the same facility as wheat. I don't get it.

[kareng]

Sometimes, we never figure out what caused the problem. Sometimes it isn't even gluten. Sometimes, life is just a mystery.

What's that old joke?

The man says to the doc, "Doc, it hurts when I eat marshmallow candy"

and the doc says, "Well, don't eat marshmallow candy. That's a $20 co-pay."

[Poppi]

Sometimes, we never figure out what caused the problem. Sometimes it isn't even gluten. Sometimes, life is just a mystery.

What's that old joke?

The man says to the doc, "Doc, it hurts when I eat marshmallow candy"

and the doc says, "Well, don't eat marshmallow candy. That's a $20 co-pay."

Yup. I think it's also putting things into perspective. Gluten-free for life doesn't necessarily mean pain-free for life. Other things cause pain and discomfort and not everything has an identifiable cause.