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

Hi Friends:  
I raised the question of whether or not to trust the label "Gluten Free" on the Chocolate Chip Biscotti made by BPGourmet cookies.  Among the replies I received were several that suggested that maltitol might be causing some problem. 
Someone noted that maltitol "is the same ingredient used in the new sugar free products made by Hershey's etc.  When I first found the Hershey's sugar free products I called to double check on the GF status and was told by them to be careful about maltitol.  It is GF BUT a lot of people "react" or are sensitive to it and should only eat a small amount at first until their body became used to it. In fact she suggested only eating maybe one piece at first and to wait and see, especially if you already had a sensitive stomach.  "

I finally reached the mfr (the correct phone number is below - the number I found on the website is incorrect.)  Florence, the person in charge of the ingredients, informed me that they use non-alochol based vanilla, and that maltitol is a corn-based sugar substitute.  She suggested that the culprit ingredient might be the cocoa.  She would not specify the source of the cocoa, nor would she specify the supplier of the chocolate chips, which I suspect also might be the offending ingredient.  She said only that they are supplied by someone who wholesales to bakeries.  I find it odd, as I told her, that they would use an ingredient they couldn't guarantee as being gluten-free in a cookie they labeled gluten-free.  All in all, I was not satisfied with our exchange on the subject, and will no longer purchase their products.  

Incidentally, I was told that their website is under construction and that the phone number is wrong.  The following information, supplied by two respondents, did yield contact with the mfr:

Born Free Foods' Inc
19 Power Drive
Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 234-5200

But the person that owns the web site is:

Boris, Dr. Evan
6 Saint Andrews Court
Old Westbury, NY 11568

And the phone directory has for him: (516) 997-4840

 I have come to accept the fact that I have multiple food sensitivities that probably account also for my reaction to the Westbrae Organic Black Beans.  I will in the future limit my purchases of all canned and baked goods to those few brands that I know from prior experience to be safe.

One response was important enough to quote:  "You should also be aware that "researching in the archives" guarantees you nothing. The company could have changed ingredients immediately after the last time somebody checked. However, my bet is that if something like canned black beans made you sick, the culprit, at least in that case, was not gluten. You are most likely allergic to something else or it was coincidence."

Thanks to everyone who replied.

nancy in nyc

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