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Hello fellow listmembers,

I can really identify with the frustration of calling food manufacturers
to get ingo of the GF status of their products. I have learned one thing,
tho. NEVER talk to the customer service reps or anyone in marketting. They
don't know anything. Go directly to the "food engineer" or "food
technician" as they are called here. You sometimes have to be specific in
a large company because food technicians specialize.For example, there are
food technicians for soups, sweets, etc. IF anyone would know anything,
it's them. They should also be able to tell you if there might be cross
contamination since they oversee the production lines. I have called
numerous local food companies here and for the most part, they are quite
helpful. A good many of them even know what celiac is before I get to
explaining it.

The problem is with the many, many products that are imported, where there
is no local address except the importer. They REALLY know nothing, nor do
they care. So to my request.

I have a favor to ask of someone who is willing to make a call for
me/anyone else interested in the subject, since the matter of maple syrups
has been brought up. The problem of prepared syrups seems to be the origin
of the caramel. I was about to suggest that it might be easier to buy
maple flavor and make it yourself, adding sugar, water and maybe GF
vanilla extract, but then I took out the maple flavor we have in the house
and I noticed that it too has caramel listed in the ingreds. The product
is called MAPLEINE Imitation Maple Flavor, made by "Crescent". All it says
on the box is that it is distributed by Han-dee Pak, Inc. in Hunt Valley,
MD. No other info. Would someone be so kind as to call and find out the
status of this product since it would be prohibitively expensive for me to
do it?  Thanks in advance. Of course, pure New ENgland maple syrup is
probably the most healthy and it doesn't have any chemicals...

May we all be inscribed for another year in the Book of Life,

Sharon Marcus
Israel