Cream Of Rice

[Eddierickles]

Hello, I have been on a strict gluten-free diet for over a year. I still get symptoms, so I've been on a mission to rifine my diet even more. I've come to the conclusion that "gluten-free" products are making me sick. I try to limit them, but I eat (ate) cream of rice daily....so I decided to investigate further......

I emailed B and G foods inquiring if they test for gluten in their product, cream of rice cereal. Keep in mind their product is labled as gluten free. I wanted to share the response I recieved:

We appreciate your concern with our Cream of Rice Cereal. We don’t test rice for gluten.

We have systems in place to prevent cross contamination. Separate receiving systems and silos are maintained for wheat and rice. The equipment used for receiving bulk wheat and rice such as hoses are maintained separately and have different connection types to avoid interchangeability, and will are marked wheat or rice. The processing equipment is separated for wheat and rice. One line is dedicated only rice products and one line is dedicated only wheat products. We also use dedicated rice only or wheat only utensils.

We do not run any cream of rice products while running any wheat products to avoid any cross contamination issues. In addition, allergen containing ingredients are labeled and stored in a segregated area.

For some reason I was under the impression that if manufacturer states their product is gluten free, they are required to test for gluten and achieve a result below 20ppm.

[psawyer]

For some reason I was under the impression that if manufacturer states their product is gluten free, they are required to test for gluten and achieve a result below 20ppm.

At present, there is no regulation in the US to govern the use of the term "gluten-free."

Canada has a regulation, but it does not require testing. The situation described in the message meets Canadian regulations for gluten-free.

[Adalaide]

There are a lot of things that make people sick, many people get sick from gluten free products. I didn't realize how sick I still was getting until I cut out most processed foods. Something all of us need to accept and investigate is that gluten is not always the culprit, as easy as it is to point our finger at it. Sure, you were still eating this every day but were you also eating soy, corn, and milk every day? These are also all common culprits which cause similar symptoms.

Some people do not do well with B&G Cream of Rice, others do fine. They have generally good practices and overall do very well to provide a good product when the bulk of what they are providing is in fact wheat. It is up to each of us to know and understand the laws in the country in which we live and to make choices for ourselves based on those laws. In the end, the only way to completely eliminate gluten from our diets without risk is to stop eating outside our homes and to buy only and prepare only whole foods. Even that will take effort as something as benign as a can of beans will elicit an FBI style investigation into their safety.

[Eddierickles]

Thanks for the replies. I definately limit gluten free proccessed foods. I don't consume dairy, soy, msg, or HFCS. I am very vigilant. I travel with food, haven't eaten out in over a year...

I just want to be an informed consumer. If a product is making a gluten free claim on its packaging, I think its reasonable to ask that there be scientific testing to back up that claim. How does one "make choices for ourselves" when we have false information?

I guess I need to start a strict whole food diet for six weeks to see if that helps.

Thanks guys

[roxweb]

This is very interesting because I also felt I was getting "glutened" from B&Gs Cream of Rice, which was particularly upsetting because they specifically put that they are a sponsor of Celiac Foundation, which made me feel like it was probably "safe". After emailing (because I was also feeling symptoms I couldn't figure out) here is the response I received.

 

Dear Consumer,
 

Cream of Rice products are produced in facilities that contain wheat. While every precaution is taken to avoid cross contamination, we cannot guarantee that they do not contain trace amounts of these ingredients from other products that are manufactured within the same manufacturing facility.

Corporate Consumer Affairs 

B&G Foods, Inc.

 

Quite a different tune than what you received. I think I'm going to play it safe and just stay away unless I can find a certified gluten free version. Sad too, this was my favorite. 

[Brandiwine]

When I started my GFD I ate Cream of Rice every morning. I know it's not good to eat the same things everyday but I am super busy and I was still learning what I could and couldn't eat. Plus, I thought the rice would be easy on my stomach. I stopped eating it when I read about all the arsenic in rice and rice products. After I stopped I realized it was making me sick.