Don't play the gluten card - The Packer

[Scott Adams]

Open Original Shared Link The Packer Before I get ahead of myself here, a disclaimer: I am not in the dark about celiac disease and the debilitating effects that gluten has on the people who suffer from it. It's not my intention to make light of celiac disease or poke fun at people who ... Caribbean Rum Balls Issues Allergy Alert On Undeclared Wheat In "Rum Balls" Celiac.com (blog) Open Original Shared Link Colorado State University News (press release) Open Original Shared Link

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[Takala]

He may not be in the dark about celiac, but he's not aware that his candle is burnt out on his assumptions about why cross contamination is not an issue for manufacturing AND labeling foods that may share production lines with gluten bearing ones.

[Skylark]

He's 100% right. We do not need "gluten-free" labels popping up on celery and carrots. It just makes it confusing.

[Di2011]

Agree with you skylark.

However I do have a big problem with all of our laws/regulations around products that don't "contain" but are processed/packaged/treated using wheat (etc) derived things that don't make it to the ingredients list.

[Takala]

The author said,

.... that includes fruit juice, peanut butter, and milk.

Can't tell you how many times I've picked up a bottle of fruit juice mixture and it said "natural flavorings" which is a catch all phrase for anything here, plus it may have said some form of starch, origin derived from unknown, so I just put it down. Peanut butter frequently contains the disclaimer "packaged in a facility that contains.... x, y, z, such as soy, tree nuts. " I can't eat the generic sunflower seeds out of a lot of products, either, because they are wheat contaminated, and it will say so right on the label. So that's 2 out of three.... it took me a long time to find a yogurt that I didn't react to because of undeclared lactose and Who Knows What Else from the thickeners.... then there is chocolate milk.

That's three for three.

He's still being a snot who doesn't care, he only sees customers as a potential, flighty demographic to be appeased, not this as a food safety labeling issue for medical reasons.

He quotes the Celiac Foundation. "naturally gluten free." Big whoop.

I don't assume any chicken is gluten free, considering all the GARBAGE additives they put into it, and neither should anyone else. When was the last time you picked up a package of chicken that said just... "chicken?"

It's all part of the dumbing down of America when it comes to food and nutrition.

The "dumbing down" happened with the Food Pyramid. Recently we saw the hapless admin here via a USDA rule change, try to force more GRAIN SERVINGS onto schoolchildren in place of corn, beans, potatoes.... this isn't 'better" nutrition, it's an assumption they can foist a certain type of vegetarian diet off on the poor getting reduced price lunches, because of how the way the farming subsidies work and the price supports for the commodities markets.... And the Senate, for once, altho mocked on it because of the "pizza," rightfully said, ENOUGH, ALREADY.

Here is somebody who is more likely in bed with the GMO industry than not. Would you eat unlabeled produce from China ? Milk products from China, given their problems with adulteration in their own country ?

[IrishHeart]

Not really sure what his intentions were (why does he care if it does not affect him--nothing else to grouse about today?) and he does NOT know about

CC at all or he wouldn't have said anything in the first place. However, I was very pleased to see the wonderful responses from celiacs/Moms of celiacs on the website in response to his article.

Maybe he learned something from them.

[Skylark]

Agree with you skylark.

However I do have a big problem with all of our laws/regulations around products that don't "contain" but are processed/packaged/treated using wheat (etc) derived things that don't make it to the ingredients list.

This is not legal in the US. Wheat allergens must be declared. Also many big-name companies like ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft, Heinz, Knorr, Sara Lee, and Unilever are very strict about declaring wheat and have also committed to putting anything that might contain gluten on their labels.

If you buy from a smaller company, you may run across labeling issues. Also there are some unscrupulous companies like Food For Life, which has had repeated incidents of misbranding with respect to wheat and gluten. I avoid their products.

[IrishHeart]

Also there are some unscrupulous companies like Food For Life, which has had repeated incidents of misbranding with respect to wheat and gluten. I avoid their products.

Really...I did not know that! (although I do not use any of their products)

Good to know.

[Skylark]

Really...I did not know that! (although I do not use any of their products)

Good to know.

The "wheat alternative" spelt bread was the biggest one.

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We also had someone on the forum get sick from their sprouted corn tortillas, possibly because of undeclared barley in the water used to sprout the grains. We never did get a straight answer from the company about the barley and the first response from the company was pretty condescending.

[IrishHeart]

The "wheat alternative" spelt bread was the biggest one.

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We also had someone on the forum get sick from their sprouted corn tortillas, possibly because of undeclared barley in the water used to sprout the grains. We never did get a straight answer from the company about the barley and the first response from the company was pretty condescending.

OY!

Oh, right... .the Ezekial bread....That stuff tastes like wood chips anyway. Blech. Back in 2009, before DX when I was very ill, a nurse practitioner suggested I eat that bread "for extra fiber". Horrid stuff.