Alex J

Visiting back home and very pleased to see the amount of gluten free processed food available here. Biscuits! At last!

Anyhow - I understand that glucose syrup, maltodextrin and dextrose don't have to be identified as derived from wheat or any other gluten grain. Has anyone called about the glucose syrup in the various biscuits in Tesco's free from range to find out what it is derived from?

Has anyone found out whether these foods are produced on dedicated lines?

Anyone had any problems with any of them?

I'd really appreciate any advice/opinions/experience and would also like to say thank you for the earlier recommendation of DS bread, which my son is enjoying.

Alex

I think this is because Walkers crisps are English, and in the UK gluten free = less than 200ppm. Things containing barley malt can contain less than 200ppm of gluten, which means that legally they can be described as gluten free. It doesn't mean they ARE free of gluten. I wouldn't consider that gluten free though. In England you have to read the ingredients, where I believe gluten must be clearly labeled even if it is less than 200ppm, rather than relying on the label 'gluten free'.

I'm English, living in the US, going back to visit for the first time since my son was diagnosed with celiac. He also has severe allergies to nuts, fish and peas. And our baby has multiple (but less severe) food allergies.

As far as I understand it, the 'gluten free' label in the UK is not very helpful as it relates to the Codex Alimentarus (surely spelled wrong) which is 200ppm or less. We aim for zero gluten - don't use products made on shared lines, no gluten in the house, etc etc. 200ppm is way too much.

So I thought that it would be OK anyway, because under EU regs gluten was listed as an allergen that had to be clearly labelled - see here, where it says it must be clearly labelled even if it the source (eg wheat) has been treated to remove it:

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So theoretically it could say 'gluten free, contains gluten' (ha ha, or not). But on further reading I'm not sure that's the case. For instance see here - though it does say gluten must be clearly labelled, it says glucose syrup derived from wheat wouldn't have to be labelled as containing gluten:

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Having read through the site, it seems pretty clear all four gluten containing grains have to be clearly labelled, but not that clear whether this is the case if they have been treated to remove the gluten.

Can anyone give me any suggestions on how to proceed?

Or can anyone suggest a good brand of absolutely gluten free (and nut free) bread? Or of rice milk?

I called General Mills and they said it is only the 12.8oz box which is labeled gluten free, and those boxes (the ones labeled gluten free) do not contain gluten and don't have any possibility of cross contamination. But they wouldn't give any details about shared lines etc.