Gluten-Free Detective Agency

This post has been in the works for quite some time.  Over the last few months, I’ve been on a serious “gluten-free detective spree,” calling the customer care departments at dozens of food companies to determine the likelihood of their products being cross-contaminated with gluten.  I was diagnosed with celiac disease almost exactly a year ago (I wrote a heartfelt account of my diagnosis last August) and, since that first day, I have learned A LOT about the gluten-free lifestyle.

For me, the biggest challenge (and annoyance) has had to do with the fact that products (yes, all products), unless they sport a gluten-free stamp of approval, can not be trusted without some legwork.  Before consuming any packaged or processed food, it is important that I personally speak with a customer care representative and receive a satisfactory response about the risk of cross-contamination in their facilities.  Of course, as much as I love grooving to telephone-hold music, it is a huge help when companies post this information online (isn’t that what web sites are for?!).

As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s easy to sometimes get lazy and not follow through on verifying the “gluten status” of each and every item that comes home with me from the grocery store.  “Plain yogurt? That has to be safe!”  “This oil should be fine, right?”  No and no!  After getting ‘inexplicably’ sick too many times, I’ve been making a concerted effort to 1) purchase as many certified gluten-free products as possible, and 2) personally contact food companies if their product is not labelled “gluten-free.”

The following information is by no means comprehensive.  It is, however, a way for me to keep straight all the bits and pieces of information I’ve been spending my time gathering.  In posting this list here, I hope it will help somebody else.  And, if any of you have any suggestions about great gluten-free products I’d love to hear them!

One last thing: Please always keep in mind that ingredients, as well as processing and packaging facilities, can easily change.  That being said, the following information was true as of December 2009-February 2010.

SAFE PRODUCTS (GLUTEN-FREE)

Boursin cheeses? Gluten-free. Huzzah! (If you haven’t tried it, Boursin with Mary’s Crackers is absolutely heavenly.)

Canada Corn Starch is gluten-free.  It is made a dedicated area of the facility and the representative with whom I spoke assured me that there is no risk of cross-contamination with gluten-containing grains.

Crosby’s Fancy Molasses is gluten-free.  This is a good thing because I was loving these ginger cookies over the holidays.

E.D. Smith 100% Pure Pumpkin is gluten-free (not to be confused with E.D. Smith Pumpkin Pie Filling which contains wheat flour).  An E.D. Smith representative informed me over the phone that these two products are made in separate facilities and, therefore, the 100% Pure Pumpkin is trustworthy.

Most Island Farms products are gluten-free.  Despite this, the company “can not 100% guarantee that no cross-contamination occurs during ingredient storage.”  From my personal experience however, I have never gotten sick from Island Farms milk, sour cream, whipped cream or cottage cheese.  I have provided the Island Farms gluten-containing product list (various flavours of ice cream) below…on the subject of ice cream, I stick to Chapman’s since it’s got that lovely gluten-free symbol on its box.

I called Kraft Canada to ask about Baker’s Chocolate and was told that Kraft does not “hide” any ingredients in labelling.  Therefore, if a product contains (or may contain) wheat, barley, rye or oats, it will be listed on the label.

I was assured that all Olympic yogurt products are made in a gluten-free facility and are, therefore, safe.

Saugeen Country yogurt is also safe.

All Sun Rype products are gluten-free (which is great since I can’t travel without a plentiful supply of Fruit to Go).

Yoplait Source Stirred yogurt is gluten-free (and fat-free and sugar-free and aspartame-free).  Despite the fact that Yoplait also makes Yoplait Source Muesli (which is not gluten-free), a Yoplait representative informed me that there is no risk of cross-contamination.  They make their yogurt in a safe environment and, then, some of it is shipped to a different facility to be topped with its muesli dome.

NOT SAFE PRODUCTS (CONTAINING GLUTEN)

Astro Balkan Style Natural Yogurt is not safe.  I called the company and, while I wasn’t given a definitive answer about the presence of gluten in their facility, I was told that they recommend, “all persons with gluten allergies should avoid their products at the present time.”  Astro, Lactantia, Beatrice and Black Diamond are all owned by Parmalat.  Until I get around to calling Parmalat directly, I’m avoiding all four of these companies.

The following Island Farms Ice Cream flavours contain gluten:
-Bear Foot Brownie
-Brownies On The Moon
-Bubble Gum Burst
-Butter Pecan *(Country Cream brand)
-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
-Cookies ‘n’ Cream
-Mixed Berry Trifle
-Nanaimo Bar
-Vanilla Plus Lemon Meringue
-Vanilla Plus Butter Tarte
-Gingerbread Cookie Dough

Liberté Créme Fraiche is not gluten-free (I found this out the hard way).  It is packaged on the same line as Liberté Six Grains yogurt (which contains oats, wheat, barely and rye).  I’m not sure about other Liberté products but I’ve avoided them all since learning about the créme fraiche.

Spectrum culinary and essential oils share common filler equipment with their wheat germ oil. (I could not, for the life of me, figure out why rice and veggies were making me sick every time we’d eat stir fry.  It was a major revelation when I realized it was the peanut oil we were using!)