<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Well, I feel obliged to step in and list my own set of "corrections" in this discussion. I agree with some of the items that Gayle stepped in and corrected, but I also disagree with some of them. Gayle wrote: > #1 It is not charcoal that contains wheat flour as a binder - it is > charcoal briquettes. Just to clarify: SOME charcoal briquettes may use wheat starch as a binder; some do not. I don't have any recent information about specific brands, but I do know that 3-4 years ago Kingsford charcoal sent us a letter stating that they did NOT use any gluten-containing ingredients in their charcoal. I agree with Gayle that plain charcoal, which is essentially charred wood, should be fine. > MSG almost always contains gluten and should be avoided. On the contrary, in the USA MSG does NOT almost always contains gluten. Here is a quote from an article by Cynthia Kupper, which appeared in the May 1997 newsletter from the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America: * MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid (a common, naturally-occurring amino acid). It can be made from either the alkaline hydrolysis of waste liquid from sugar beet refining, hydrolysis of wheat/corn gluten, or the organic synthesis of acrylonitrile. In the USA MSG is made from corn. The challenge is finding from which country the MSG comes. This was reaffirmed by Mary Kay Sharrett at the 1997 Gluten-Free Gang Conference in Columbus, Ohio (as summarized in the Jan./Feb. issue of _The Sprue-nik Press_): Q: Does MSG (monosodium glutamate) contain gluten? A: (Mary Kay Sharrett) MSG does not contain gluten if it is made in the USA. in a post to this list by Susan DeVries on July 28, 1998, we learned that CSA/USA's handbook includes the following on pg. 37: CSA/USA's "Info Sheet: Ingredient Red Flag For Gluten-Free Commerical Products" reports that "Foreign sources of MSG usually contain gluten-containing grains and a large majority of U.S. food producers may be importing this product. U.S. source MSG usually utilizes a source substance of cane, beets or tapioca starch. A small percentage of producers may be using wheat gluten. Many celiacs report a sensitivity and/or asthmatic reactions to MSG." I think that last sentence provides the key: Many celiacs ALSO have a sensitivity to MSG, and in fact, so do many non-celiacs. A lot of people avoid MSG for other reasons; there is even a NO-MSG newsletter that some subscribers to this list also received. But I believe it is incorrect to assume that nearly all MSG contains gluten. + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + | Jim Lyles Home: [log in to unmask] | | Holly, Michigan, USA Work: [log in to unmask] | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +