<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Dear Listmates,

About a month ago I posted a message asking for help figuring out why my
daughter's antibody levels were still high after one year on the diet.
One of the responders said to watch out for frozen vegetables that were
dusted with flour because she had gotten very sick from that.  I had
briefly seen a chat about this on delphi about 6 months ago but was too
overwhelmed with the diet basics to deal with it at the time.  This time
I wanted to find out more information before posting.

The person who responded said that the flour was not on the ingredient
list and she was too sick to positively identify the brand.  I did find
evidence that flour dusting does occur (see below).  I guess this is
done to prevent the vegetables from sticking together (similar to the
problem with candy).

But first some good news:

I called Green Giant (800-998-9996) on January 16th to ask about gluten
being used in the packaging or processing of their plain frozen
vegetables.  The rep said that if they use any gluten it will be on the
ingredient list even if it is only used in the packaging or processing
of the product.  She said you can completely depend on the ingredient
list (I love it when they say this).

I emailed Birds Eye (www.birdseye.com) on January 16th and received a
reply that stated that flour is not used in the processing or packaging
of any Birds Eye plain frozen vegetables.  The complete email reply from
Agrilink Foods is at the end of this post (they mention some other
products too).

Now the bad news.  Shaw's Supermarkets is a grocery store chain in the
New England area of the US.  They have their own brand of products and
they sent me their current gluten-free product list on January 22.  Next
to their product "Frozen Vegetables", they make the comment
"Occasionally, dusting may occur in the packaging of our frozen
vegetables.  Therefore, we are unable to state they are totally gluten-
free.  (packaging is dusted)".  I want to say that I appreciate Shaw's
honesty in this.  Their extensive gluten-free list was obviously
carefully done and based on their many comments I have confidence that
the items that they listed as gluten-free are safe.

The lesson for me is to check even my seemingly innocent-looking frozen
vegetables (fortunately I only use Green Giant and Birds Eye).  Maybe
others can post brands that they have checked.

To good health,
Cindy in MA

*****

The Agrilink email dated January 18, 2002:

Thank you for inquiring about the nutritional information of Birds Eye
Whole Green Beans.

Flour is not used in the processing or packaging of the Birds Eye Whole
Green Beans nor any other Birds Eye plain frozen vegetables.  While our
company does not have a gluten-free list, I can assure you that all of
our Comstock and Wilderness pie fillings and Birds Eye plain vegetables
are gluten-free.

We value you as a consumer and hope that this information will be
helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Agrilink Foods
Consumer Relations