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

---  I'm not sure why it is unclear, but I am still having people write
to tell me that bobs red mill is made in a separate dedicated facility.
Perhaps it's the definition of "dedicated facility" that is causing the
confusion.

To me, dedicated facility means a building that does not handle ANY
wheat products whatsoever. Bobs red mill is a dedicated room within a
wheat facility.

---  I have also received messages from people not wanting to live in a
bubble. I can appreciate that. And if you can eat products labelled GF
that are made in a wheat facility without getting sick and without it
showing on your test results, then do go ahead and eat what you can. If
I had no symptoms I really believe I would have trouble following this
diet at all.

For those of us who can't, it makes sense to stay away from certain
types of products, else we will end up in a different kind of bubble,
the one where you're too sick to work and/or socialize.

---  It has also been suggested that I should appreciate the companies
who are trying to produce GF foods (even if they are not perfect), and
not be saying bad things about them, or the stores who try to sell these
products. I am not saying bad things or trying to put these companies
out of business; only laying out the facts. I believe it is a service to
the 10 to 20 % of us who are very sensitive. It may only contain 5 ppm
and the first time I eat it I may not even feel much of a reaction. But
after repeated ingestions of trace amounts of gluten, I find myself as
sick as if I ate the whole thing at once.

---  In the past I trusted the gluten-free label even though I kept
getting sick. Following the advice of many on this list, I took a food
intolerance blood test, and eliminated a variety of foods from my diet
in an effort to define my "other food intolerances". I really don't
believe that lettuce or peaches or celery or raisins or kidney beans
make me sick. Instead, I believe it's the products that I have eaten
that have been manufactured in a facility where powdered gluten (flour)
is present.

---  Here is a review of a soon-to-be-published study undertaken by
Ashley Lardizabal at the University of Nebraska, which descibes how
products marked gluten-free contained the greatest amounts of gluten:

Immunochemical analysis of various food ingredients for detectable
gluten content

A. L. Lardizabal, L. M. Niemann, and S. L. Hefle.
Food Allergy Research and Resource Program
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0919

Unidentified wheat presence in the food supply presents a serious health
risk to individuals who suffer from either true wheat allergy or celiac
sprue. The Codex Alimentarius had set a level of less than 200 ppm for a
food to be considered "gluten-free". Codex is considering changing this
level to 20 ppm in the belief that this will better protect the celiac
sufferer.

Many foods are perceived by celiac and wheat-allergic persons as
containing wheat gluten or proteins, which can lead to a more restricted
diet than necessary. The objective of the study was to determine the
presence of wheat gluten in non-wheat-containing, "wheat-free",
"gluten-free" foods/ingredients. A commercially available wheat gluten
immunoassay kit (lower detection limit=10 parts per million gluten) was
used to test samples. The test exhibits some cross-reactivity to barley
and rye glutens.

Food samples tested included a variety of non-wheat foods at high risk
for cross-contamination with wheat, foods labeled as "wheat free" or
"gluten free", and foods or ingredients commonly avoided by celiac and
wheat-allergic people that originate from wheat or related cereals, but
which have questionable gluten content. Samples tested included at least
two different lot numbers of each product.

Most products with questionable wheat content, such as alcoholic
beverages, carriers, and flavorings, most types of vinegar and soy
sauces, registered below 10 ppm gluten. Food products labeled as wheat
or gluten "free" showed detectable levels ranging from below 10 ppm to
277 ppm. Based on the results of this study, distilled products such as
vinegar, alcoholic beverages, and alcohol-based flavorings can likely be
ingested by celiac people without problem. Caution must be taken when
eating food products labeled "wheat-free" or "gluten free" as some can
contain appreciable amounts of wheat.

SOURCE: 2002 Annual Meeting and Food Expo - Anaheim, California

Janice.

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