<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hello all...thanks for the response..I feel alot better and am not angry anymore. What a waste of energy! Right? here are the responses....I recieved quite a few and am short on time...so here are the highlights. Best of Luck. Pete: .............................................. I finally got to talk to someone at Arrowhead. She tried to tell me that they had told their supplier of the corn puffs to be extra careful when they produced the product, but have no idea if the supplier is being careful. I basically kept repeating that if we couldn't trust the labelling on one of their products, then whatever product the Arrowhead Mills name was on would be suspect to celiacs. She also said that no company that makes numerous products is able to guarantee 100% that the products haven't been cross-contaminated & I told her that I was convinced that Lifestream was totally aware of cross-contamination and took exceptional measures to ensure gluten free products were gluten-free. Anyway, I left her my name, address & phone number and basically said that I was at least deserving of some kind of response from the company after having eliminated corn from my diet for the past 4 1/2 years unnecessarily. I feel all the same anger & frustration that you do 'cause the battle to eat safely looks like it is never going to end. .......................................................... I'm still burning with anger that the seltzer bottle labled ingredients: water, carbonation is not GF ... what the hell is with that? ARGH ... When I mentioned the Peanut People, I had hoped that the list could have a good hearty debate about what we should do and what's the best way to go forward. I'd hate to sue, because my concern over the long haul is that I don't want to go down the peanut path and have companies running scared, stamping "may contain gluten" on aluminum foil just to cover their profit-fattened hynies ... On the other hand, this lawsuit-happy country seems to respond only to lawsuits ... I have considered over and over again suing Kraft for their false advertising of "100% pure mozarella" ... and for their "medical emergency hotline" telling me that they are "not allowed" to read ingredients over the phone ..... I'm sure some legal beagle thought up that idea ... And, just recently , my anger has really boiled over as I cannot get my anit-convulsant medicine compounded ... the company will not release the powder to the compounders .. UNLESS I were a dog. They will release the ingredients for veterinary cases, not human cases. What's with that? Why is my poodle entitled to better GF living than me? So, I dn't know what the answer is ..... I had asked the Sully's Living Without folks -- I'm their travel writer -- if I could have a 'bully pulpit' kind of hall-of-shame sidebar ... to publically give a heads-up on those companies that are unresponsive to *all* food allergy requests ... I think since Sully's is new, they don't want to go that route ... Don't blame them. I'm sure I'd say that Krapt was an agent of satan and then Krapt woud sue Sully's and then we'd still lose ... I personally think the only answer/way out is some celebrity poster child. Seems like organizations with celebrities on board -- Liz + AIDS, Mary Tyler Moore + diabetes, to name a few -- do really well in terms of public awareness .... Bill Clinton allegedly has a wheat allergy, but, ah, I'm not sure he's the poster boy we are looking for ... :) Sorry to rant/vent back at ya, you probably have a mailbox full of angst and anger ..... Tracey in Connecticut GF lodging: http://www.innseekers.com/feature.htm .................................................................... I have been eating Arrowhead Rice n'Shine almost daily for two years or so. My followup biopsy is in March of 99 so I'll find out then what shape my villi are in. My symptoms are not very obvious either so I have to trust the labels as far as what to eat as my symptoms take so long to develop. I have been in good shape on the diet so I'm hoping the Rice n Shine is okay. Barb from NE Ohio ....................... Right on, Peter. Perhaps the most effective thing we can do is to boycott ALL Arrowhead products, along with strong letters to the manufacturer. Damn them, anyway. There is really something terribly wrong with our labeling laws to allow this injustice. And that's not to mention the lack of integrity of Arrowhead. Diane ......................... I would be angry also. Although I don't eat that cereal it did happen to me with another, Natures Path Honey'd corn flakes. Natures Path did do something about it, they took the vanilla out of the cereal, which then made it GF. I think that it should be brought to the attention to the company so they can correct the problem. Does that cereal say on the package that it is GF? ............................... I am the one who originally blew the whistle on the Arrowhead corn pops, listed as GF in the CSA guide book, by the way. I threw away my Rice n Shine today. I would take the other box back, but I'll give it to the food bank. I have purchased their flours also at times at my health food store. A poster posted me the other day and said if I had been following the list for a while, I have been for way over a year now and don't remember hearing about them, and he said that they are notorious for cross contamination. I get more frustrated each day, too, trying to decide what to eat. I make everything myself, just about never eat out and thought that I have been GF even though my stomach seems to be upset quite a bit. I have been diagnosed with IBS due to stress, severe personal problems. I wonder how much of this is gluten? I have been eating their Rice n Shine almost every day for breakfast for a year and a half now. GRRRRRR! I had someone suggest that my problems may be because I eat the same thing and should follow a rotation diet. There isn't too much else out their but rice for us. Boy, this thing is tough, isn't it? I have also heard several times on the list that Bob's Red Mills is notorious for cross contamination so I stay away from their products. If I can be of any help to you in the future, please let me know. I also had someone else post me stating that he had been eating their puffed rice for quite some time and felt sick constantly. A poster from Canada, she is the one who posted that she thought she was allergic to corn, said that Arrowhead Mills rep. was not very cooperative and said that no company can guarantee that there is no cross contamination in their products. Take care, Karen .............................. I called Arrowhead Mills and spoke to Lynda there,after learning that their Puffed Corn cereal "might" be contaminated due to dusting by the manufacturing process performed by a firm they contract the product out to.I use d the word "might",in italics since I heard of this on the list and do not take everything written as "truth". She was exceptionally helpful and understanding.Now hear this clearly:She indicated that they use the expression "we can not guarantee that the product is GF" since it is manufactured elsewhere.She indicated to the best of my recollection that all of their suppliers are aware of the need to be GF. With that said I do not have a sense of dread over eating this product .I feel fine on my GF diet and do not intend to spend the rest of my life fretting over this issue. Elevated blood pressure can cause me as much if not more harm thana potentially small amount of gluten. This is shared with you in brotherhood as a fellow celiac. ..................................... I guess that I am the one who started this mess. I expect to call Arrowhead some time today. To date I have about a dozen replies and expect to sumarize before the week is out. I have been off of Arrowhead products for about five days, and have only had one major bout of diarreha since. I am a 57 year old "athlete" and need my endurance. In July I was able to do a hilly 100 mile bike ride, a first for me. (I was diagnosed in early June.) This comming weekend, I hope to ride 120 miles around Lake Okkchobee. I hope that my endurance will be up to about eight hours, more or less, in the saddle by Saturday. Thanks for joining my battle against those companies who are insensitive to the needs of our celiac community. .............................................. I would be very tempted to call the FDA & complain. That's how the Coleman's mustard thing got started & resolved. Some companies now add " this product made in a facility that also make wheat products and may be contaminated." There is only brand of rice thins--is the snack food section--that has this. Don't want to make the FDA angry w/ you. (Might also get what we got w/ Kraft, too, "eat none of our products because we can't tell you what's in it." Can't believe they can market stuff w/out knowing what's in it. Bev in Milwaukee ................................................. Thanks all!!!! Pete