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

Believe it or not, I only recieved one response from this, and it looks
like it was posted as a summary to another question on the list.  All other
responses were others who wanted to know also.

First I will post the one I got, ...

*******
Yes, cheese with mold CAN contain bread crumbs.  However, the good new
is that some do not.

I talked with a leading cheese manufacturer in the Seattle area.  He, in
turn, called his lab where they buy their cheese cultures.  That's Chris
Hanson Labs in Wisconsin, which, he says, is THE leading and premier lab
in the country.  All of their cultures are gluten free.  Mendora brand
bleu and gorgonzola cheeses are gluten free.  (That's all this
manufacturer carries so it is all he checked on.)  I have no idea what
the marketing area is for Mendora brand cheeses.  He says the Mendora
Bleu is similar to a Danish Bleu.

According to the chemist in Chris Hanson Labs any of the moldy cheeses
could so we must check on each brand.  However, if the cheese maker buys
their cultures from Chris Hanson, then it would be gf.

Now, Roquefort is another story.  As with French wines, roquefort can
only be made in one region in France and no where else in the world.
Their process is a closely guarded secret and has not changed for
generations.  So, my challenge is this.  Is there anyone from France
that can check on Roquefort and it's gluten status?  Or do you know a
distributor that will help us out?  Wouldn't it be nice to make and eat
a gluten free roquefort dressing again?

A listmate from the UK states that "real" silton and classic Danish Blue
are gluten free.  He says the Danish Blues are made from copper salts
and not mold at all.  His wife, who is extremely sensitive, eats them
with no problem.  She avoids Roquefort, however, because they believe it
is made with bread crumbs.

Another listmate says that he talked with Maytag and their brand of bleu
cheese does contain gluten (bread crumbs).

According to the cheese maker and the lab, virtually all hard cheese are
gluten free.
Diane (Seattle USA area)

And from another post: .  For those not aware of which cheeses are
considered Blue, here is a listing: Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton,
Danish Blue, Cabrales, American Blue.
************

That was from another recent post.  Here is what I came up with:

After seeing that she had recently called Hanson's, but got different
information than I had years ago, I called them back again today.  I spoke
with Steve, (who works more with colors than cultures) who told me to call
Cathy Strauss tomorrow.  They get thier cultures for the blue cheeses from
France and Cathy is in the process of checking into that now, as result of
a gluten inquiry from the WI cheese manufacturers.  Hanson's is not sure of
the grain upon which the blue cheese mold is grown.

BECAUSE of the type of cultures used to ripen the blue cheeses, these
cultures need to be investigated.  Blue cheese, brie, camembert, rouqefort
and probably limberger types need to be investigated.  That is because they
are innoculated with penicillium or like fungi.   Other common cheeses use
non-suspect cultures.

I did check Hanson's enzymes, and they are fine.

HOWEVER, Steve admitted that they were not, by far, the biggest culture
house, and gave me the name and number of the one that supplied the most in
the US... They are SKW (formerly SKI) Foods in Waukesha, WI.

1-800-654-2396.  I will not be calling them in the near future because
neither I, nor my store carry other big brands.  We only carry Organic
Valley and North Farms, which is where I learned about Hanson's from, many
years ago.

Even when I learn (which I haven't yet), whether potential grain started
cultures are used, I still don't know what form the original grain remains
in the final product.  Thus, I still have no way to determine if a wheat
allergic person, or just a gluten intolerant person would react.  It
appears unlikely that I will be able to make that determination.

Another issue was regarding YEAST itself.  According to some responses I
received, it is in the drying and/or packaging process that wheat may be
introduced in some brands of yeast.  I called Red Star to get more details,
but I was not able to get to a technical person.

My original question had asked if wheat allergic people had the same issue
with wheat contamination in  yeast  that celiacs do.  I assumed since many
of these allergic individuals eat spelt (and other breads) with yeast, they
must not be bothered by this.  An interesting response was regarding the
genetic relationship of spelt (and kamut, for that matter) to wheat.  There
are some posts in the archives regarding spelt.  It appears to be an oddity
that wheat allergic people should be able to eat spelt at all.  Yet, some
claim they can.  This appears to be more of a question for immunology.  I
suspect, as my own allergist has told me before, that individuals vary.

Some cross react to many foods of the same food family.  Others don't.  It
seems logical, however, to approach such closely related grains with
extreme caution.

Joanne