Testing An App For That...

[gatita]

I am trying out this phone app called Fooducate that costs $4.99. Thought I'd give a mini-review here.

The app scans bar codes and tells you if a product has gluten, might be questionable, or has no gluten ingredients. You can also check for lactose, milk, soy and other major allergens. Only three at a time, though.

It's super easy to use with my old iPhone 3G, and most of the products I scanned were in their database, including some smaller health food brands, Trader Joes, etc. If a product isn't there, you can shoot a quick snapshot of the label and nutrition info and they'll analyze it and add it to the database. Pretty cool.

I found two drawbacks so far: one, it only checks ingredients for gluten

[kareng]

Becareful of these apps. We had someone on here insistting something has gluten because of a "app". I don't remember exactly, but it was something that never has gluten. I would double check the ingredients before eating or discarding food.

Also, just because a restaruant has said they have a gluten-free menu, it only means the basic ingredients aren't gluten-free. There are a few that still fry the gluten-free fries with the non-gluten-free things, etc.

[gatita]

Becareful of these apps. We had someone on here insistting something has gluten because of a "app". I don't remember exactly, but it was something that never has gluten. I would double check the ingredients before eating or discarding food.

Also, just because a restaruant has said they have a gluten-free menu, it only means the basic ingredients aren't gluten-free. There are a few that still fry the gluten-free fries with the non-gluten-free things, etc.

Thanks for the warnings! Yes, I will still read the labels just to be sure.

And what you say is exactly why I'm afraid to eat in restaurants, at least for now. I had a fabulous gluten-free meal at PF Changs but something (I think the gluten-free dessert) didn't agree with me at all. (To be fair, it might have been the lactose in it.)

[kareng]

Thanks for the warnings! Yes, I will still read the labels just to be sure.

And what you say is exactly why I'm afraid to eat in restaurants, at least for now. I had a fabulous gluten-free meal at PF Changs but something (I think the gluten-free dessert) didn't agree with me at all. (To be fair, it might have been the lactose in it.)

The first time I ate at PF Changs' I didn't feel so good either. I ate way too much and it is very salty. I was so excited to eat out. Hub and I got the lettuce wraps (I ate 2/3rds), egg drop soup, 2 entrees and the dessertt (once again that 2/3rd split). Now, when I want some of each, I bring at least 1 teen boy. We get only gluten-free food so we can taste everything. I get lots of my lettuce wraps and soup and don't feel I have to eat as much entree as he will gobble it up.