Hi All,
We've talked about this before, but it never hurts to refresh our memories on something this important. I came across this while researching the "malt flavoring and barley malt extract" issue, and several things caught my eye.
For one thing, I've always considered the old "one molecule of gluten is just as toxic as ten thousand", claim to be some sort of "self-evidtent" truth. This article, however, points out that there is no scientific proof that celiacs require a 100% gluten free diet. Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Well, my response to that would have to be that there is also no scientific proof that celiacs do not require a 100% gluten free diet, in order to be 100% safe from the consequences of failing to properly restrict their diet. Personally, I suspect that every molecule in excess of zero, carries with it some form of health risk, however small it may be. From a practical viewpoint, however, I recognize that there is no such thing as perfect, and virtually everything on this planet is contaminated by virtually everything else, in some miniscule way. It would be prohibitively expensive to guarantee absolute purity for almost any product, (if, indeed, it could be done at all).
At any rate, I have a hunch that this is the primary reason why we sometimes eat a processed product with a "safe" ingredient list, and a gluten-free label, and we get sick, anyway, and can't figure out why.
http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=209
Tex
If You Think The GF Products You Buy Are GF, Think Again
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kate_ce1995
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I noticed recently that NutThins has flavored crackers and I miss crackers a lot. Well, they print that they support the Celiac Foundation (or some such organziation) and yet their flavored crackers anyway are also printed with "produced in a plant with wheat, etc., etc." Makes one sit up and ????
Katy
Katy
I hate to see warnings like that. You know that they're probably doing their best to try to do everything right. Still, if you choose the product, you're gambling that no one in their organization is making any mistakes, (especially the cleanup crew).
I don't know how the rest of the snack industry goes about it, but I used to spend a fair amount of time in a baked tortilla chip factory, (which I supplied with corn), and whenever they changed products on the lines, a crew would come in and "blow down" everything with compressed air, starting at the top, and working their way down to the floor. They had to wear dust masks, and goggles, because the air was filled with dust from seasonings, and fines from broken and ground up corn chips, of course. If they had produced anything with gluten on those lines, it would have been impossible to keep the dust from settling on the other lines, (and resettling on the same lines, of course). Maybe the facilities that produce GF products in an environment where gluten products are also produced, do a better job of isolating those production lines. I've never been in any other snack plants.
Tex
I don't know how the rest of the snack industry goes about it, but I used to spend a fair amount of time in a baked tortilla chip factory, (which I supplied with corn), and whenever they changed products on the lines, a crew would come in and "blow down" everything with compressed air, starting at the top, and working their way down to the floor. They had to wear dust masks, and goggles, because the air was filled with dust from seasonings, and fines from broken and ground up corn chips, of course. If they had produced anything with gluten on those lines, it would have been impossible to keep the dust from settling on the other lines, (and resettling on the same lines, of course). Maybe the facilities that produce GF products in an environment where gluten products are also produced, do a better job of isolating those production lines. I've never been in any other snack plants.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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harvest_table
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Thanks for bringing this up to the table Tex.
THE GLUTEN FILES
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/
Well,
I guess I'm not one to worry about cross-contamination at the molecular level. Yes, theoretically, such items are not 100% GF, but neither is "anything" if we live in a world containing gluten! I mean, if your grocery store houses a bakery, technically, there are gluten particles in the air, no?
I don't have an issue w/Nut Thins (love 'em, in fact), and I think we have to acknowledge how economically unfeasible it would be for a company to have a completely GF facility! I am fine with them just lettting people know gluten-containing foods are also produced on the premises...Then the consumer can make their own informed choice...
My daughter has developed a pecan allergy (and I suspect some other tree nuts might be off-limits as well!) and I won't let her have items that say "may contain tree nuts", but if I see labeling that says produced in a facility that also uses tree nuts, I let it go...I guess each individual needs to decided what element of potential risk they are comfortable with...
JMO,
Mary
I guess I'm not one to worry about cross-contamination at the molecular level. Yes, theoretically, such items are not 100% GF, but neither is "anything" if we live in a world containing gluten! I mean, if your grocery store houses a bakery, technically, there are gluten particles in the air, no?
I don't have an issue w/Nut Thins (love 'em, in fact), and I think we have to acknowledge how economically unfeasible it would be for a company to have a completely GF facility! I am fine with them just lettting people know gluten-containing foods are also produced on the premises...Then the consumer can make their own informed choice...
My daughter has developed a pecan allergy (and I suspect some other tree nuts might be off-limits as well!) and I won't let her have items that say "may contain tree nuts", but if I see labeling that says produced in a facility that also uses tree nuts, I let it go...I guess each individual needs to decided what element of potential risk they are comfortable with...
JMO,
Mary