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I've been avoiding stepping into this frey - but at this point I feel I
must.  First of all - I had never heard that all vinegar in the US was
distilled from corn.  Does anyone have a source for this information?  I
would truly love to see the documentation for this as distilled vinegar has
always caused me to have a reaction that I have interpereted as a "gluten"
reaction.  My response is unusual as I have had anaphalactic shock and
convulsions (that we are now learning may be a form of tetany) that are
pretty gluten consumptive specific.  (And before anyone questions whether or
not these unusual reactions are from my celiac - be aware that i am now
seeing a specialist at the University of Chicago who validated that my
responses, while rare, are documented in the literature as being known
celiac responses. )

It seems odd to me that we have gotten into this whole distilled vinegar
mess if indeed no distilled vinegar is made from other grains.  If distilled
vinegar is from corn, and I react - then I have more investigating to do and
another problem to address.  And I am suprised this information has not been
confirmed before now.

My main concern in food labeling is that manufacturer's put *all* sources on
labels - products used in processing - and whether cross contamination is a
possibility - without having to track them down.  I wish manufacturer's had
a clear understanding of where gluten can hide and not think that because
none of the ingredients are obviously from grains that it is gluten free.  I
have a product on my shelf right now that, although it says gluten free on
the label - contains malt (no source), rice syrup (no source), citric acid
(no source), and natural flavoring and extracts (no source).  Now do I hope
they are aware that gluten can be hidden in all of these ingredients and use
the product?  Before I got extremely sensitive to gluten, I was able to eat
Bocca burgers - which has GF on the label, but were later tested and found
to contain some gluten.  Leads me to think that not all manufacturer's are
up to speed.  With all the varieties of allergies and intolerances it seems
that it would make sense just to ask for complete, concise, precise labeling
laws.  (If I am reacting to something other than gluten and I find out what
that *something* is, I need to be able to find that easily on a label also.

I am pretty hesitant to post on this subject - but . . . as my sig file
says:


It is seldom wise to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you
happen to live near one . . .

deni weber

Valparaiso, IN  USA

No trees were killed in the sending of this message.  However a large number
of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.