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My health situation is undiagnosed (no colonoscopy), but shows all the
signs of Crohn's disease. Recently, I purchased a new food product that was
labeled as containing "pollock and/or whiting" (fish). When I ate it, I got
sick. I did this three times, and then I thought to get in touch with the
company. After a month of delays, they told me that they had not actually
used pollock and/or whiting, but rather a pre-prepared product made of
pollock and/or whiting, generally called by its Japanese name, "surimi".
Surimi is a processed fish product that sometimes (but not always) has
wheat, wheat flour, or gluten used as a "binder".

While I only was made sick temporarily, it occurs to me that a person with
celiac disease might be made much more sick. So, I thought it might be a
good idea to post this where people with celiac disease might find it.

I'd give the name of the company, except they have assured me that they
will not be using surimi in the future.

I think that this problem -- the problem of using prepared surimi with
gluten, instead of the listed pollock and/or whiting -- may be fairly
common. The fact is that the surimi product is much more convenient for
food manufacturers, because it's already processed and is available frozen.
It also often has a more stable and economic price.

Because of the laxness of food labeling laws (which I have been told are
soon to be tightened up a bit), I think it's fairly common for more
convenient and less expensive surimi to be used as a substitute for fresh
or frozen pure pollock or whiting. From the government's perspective, there
is no difference. But there may be a big difference if a person has celiac
disease and the surimi has wheat, wheat flour, or gluten included in its
formula.

I'm pretty certain that people with celiac disease must already know about
this potential problem. But just in case you aren't, I thought I had best
submit this message for posting.

Be well.

Yours truly,
Stan Tenen
Sharon, MA

*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*