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

Thanks to those who replied with their experiences about the Trader Joe's O's
and Honey O's cereals. I regret to say THESE CEREALS ARE NOT GLUTEN-FREE,
despite what the 2005 Gluten-free food list at the stores says.

To recap: we were so excited see a Cheerio's-like cereal on the GF list that
my husband and 5 yr old celiac went right out and bought a box of each. My son
was so thrilled when he got home from the store that he ate 4 bowls of cereal.
But later I started wondering where TJ's got non-contaminated oats. I asked
all of you your experiences with the cereal, and then contacted the company
when customer service opened the following morning.


The replies I received:

        some have just recently tried the cereal. of those, some react, some don't

        1 person insulted me for even thinking about eating oats

        2 people said they no longer trust Trader Joe's after some bad experiences
with their products.

        several people were thrilled to hear the cereal might be GF and wanted to try
it (sorry, folks, it ain't)


Both my son and started reacting within 12 hours of eating the cereal. He is
still having problems 9 days later.

What I heard from the company when I called them: they insist all their
ingredients are gluten-free, but admit they use American grown oats, processed
in a mill that does multiple types of grain and the cereal is made in a plant
that also makes wheat based cereals. When I asked about cross-contamination,
frankly, from the reaction I got, you'd have thought I was speaking Martian.
THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. When I asked how the cereal was milled and if the
production lines were cleaned, the rep just insisted on repeating that there
were no gluten-containing ingredients in the cereal.

A family friend of ours, who is also celiac, has also had bad reactions to
this cereal.

Summary: based on our experience, Trader Joe's O's and Honey O's cereals
contain do gluten.

Maureen

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