Gluten Free Flour Mix

I have been using this gluten free flour mix in place of all purpose flour (wheat) in recipes and have had tremendous success. Last week I even made a puff pancake that the boys loved! Recipe to follow later for that....

1c. Gluten Free Flour Mix--

1/2 c. rice flour, 1/4 c. tapioca flour or starch, 1/4 c. cornstarch,  1/2 t. xanthan gum

Facial Tics and Vitamins & Minerals

Ever wonder what causes some people to have such severe facial tics? To be honest, I really never gave it a thought and categorized it somewhere between "weird" and "unfortunate" --until my middle son developed one. I had noticed that over several months, he had started winking his eye, more notably on one side. This "wink" eventually graduated to include more and more of his face. One night at the dinner table he was telling me a story about something that happened at school that day, and I thought that the facial expressions were part of the story. So I laughed. And he looked at me and said, "Why are you laughing?" Well, I thought I was supposed to, but I immediately stopped and asked him if he was winking at me on purpose. His face became very serious and he replied that, no, in fact he wasn't winking and that some other kids had asked him the same thing. Uh oh, I knew we had a problem. I should also insert here that at this time my son was also experiencing "Celiac type" symptoms but was undiagnosed. Being a certified herbalist, I knew that one of several things could cause this kind of facial ticking: a lack of vitamins & minerals.

Most of us, no matter our health status, do not have enough vitamins & minerals, especially since we are almost all part of the adrenal craze with having too much stress, caffeine, and energy drinks. In addition, medications, nursing, poor diets, food intoleraces, sensitivities and allergies, and just plain aging assist our bodies in depleting mineral stores as well. Further, Phytates, a type of acid found in the hulls of nuts, seeds, and grains bind with minerals and reduce absorption of them in the body. In other words, the very things we think are healthy like whole wheat and other whole grain foods can actually decrease the minerals in our bodies. Knudsen E, Sandström B, Solgaard P. Finally, milk, thought to be an all-american-calcium-must-have-3-glasses-a-day drink also has been proven to reduce mineral levels in the body according to a Harvard study ( Lunar Osteoporosis Update (November 1997) and many others including the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993, that have been around for years.

My son began a supplement program including a B-Complex, Probiotic, and Calcium, and his ticking almost disappeared within a week. Because I assumed his body's stored B's were being eaten up by the stress of school leaving him depleted, I stopped giving him the B-Complex when school let out for the summer. A couple of weeks later, however, the tic was back and I once again gave him the B's. Althought they did seem to keep the tics somewhat under control, but did not completely heal the problem, I was perplexed as to why he would be depleted in vitamins and minerals since we had a "healthy" lifestyle. It would be two more years before we realized he was suffering from a Celiac Disease that was slowly wasting away his body. Left undiagnosed Celiac Disease causes malabsorption, an inability to absorb nutrition in the small intestine, and causes damage to the intestinal wall. Even the vitamin/mineral supplements I gave him were having a hard time being absorbed, which is why they helped but didn't eradicate the tics and other issues he was beginning to have. Once he was diagnosed and the gluten was eliminated from his diet, the malabsorption reversed and the tic and other issues disappeared. He has also gained 15 pounds, 2 jean sizes, and 2.5 sizes in shoes. We plan on having him tested again to make sure his malabsorption is back down and staying within normal rages.

People who suffer from Celiac Disease, a gluten intolerance, or sensitivity, whether they are mal absorbed or not, will need to be supplemented their entire lives. The most important supplements I have been able to find through my research in overcoming the effects of food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances are: Calcium Magnesium, B-Complex, Probiotics, and Digestive Enzymes. Interestingly, Probiotics aid the body in making minerals more soluable, especially where Phytates are concerned (Famularo G, De Simone C, Pandey V, Sahu AR, Minisola G). There are others that are helpful as well, but these are non-negotiable when dealing with a food allergy, sensitvity, or intolerance to something like gluten. If you would like further information, let me know!


This article in no way seeks to diagnose or treat any health problems.

December 20 Food Allergy Article (including gluten) in Chi-Trib

chicagotribune.com
Tribune investigation prompts stores to pull food items
Five ways to protect yourself and your family from products with dangerous allergens

By Sam Roe and Ted Gregory

Tribune reporters

6:05 PM CST, December 20, 2008

Chicago-area supermarkets, gourmet shops and bakeries routinely sell mislabeled products that pose a danger to those with food allergies, according to Tribune testing and a comprehensive check of grocery aisles.

When informed of the findings, more than a dozen food companies said they would remove products from shelves or fix labels to properly disclose all ingredients.

In one of the nation's largest examinations of undisclosed ingredients in food, the Tribune reviewed thousands of items at more than 60 locations, finding dozens of products obviously mislabeled. The newspaper also conducted 50 laboratory tests—more than the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration combined over the last several years—to try to determine precise ingredients.

The newspaper's wide-ranging examination stretched from chain groceries in Naperville to ethnic stores in Pilsen to specialty shops in downtown Chicago. In the end, the Tribune identified 117 products that appear to violate federal food labeling laws.

Following previous Tribune reports that showed how government and industry fail to root out hidden allergens, this examination reveals the alarming scope of the problem.

The findings also offer lessons for parents trying to protect their children, from how to spot mislabeled food to which kinds of products are more likely to be tainted.

No. 1: Read labels carefully because errors abound

Parents should know that some products contain undisclosed ingredients.

Eight foods—milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish—account for 90 percent of food allergies. That's why federal law requires ingredient labels to disclose them.

Yet the Tribune found examples of those ingredients not being declared, such as in Frontier Soups Cincinnati Chili mix, sold at Arista Foods on May Street in Chicago.

Milk is not listed on the label, but when the Tribune sent the product to a University of Nebraska laboratory specializing in allergens, tests showed the chili mix contained milk. Frontier owner Trisha Anderson said milk likely slipped into the chili mix through cross-contamination during manufacturing. "We will change our labeling to reflect this allergen information," she said.

The newspaper also found more than a dozen products with incomplete labels that, for example, simply list "flour" as an ingredient. If an item contains, say, wheat flour, the packaging must say so.

Likewise, if a label discloses "butter," it must also state "milk." The law was written that way partly because many children with allergies must check labels themselves and cannot be expected to know the sub-ingredients in foods.

When the Tribune alerted manufacturers of the incomplete labels, several said they would remove the products from shelves or amend labels.

Seattle-based Theo Chocolate said it started a national recall of its Caramel Collection candy after the newspaper informed the company that its labels disclosed "organic butter" but not milk. The company said 5,000 individual packages, sold at the Whole Foods Market grocery chain, would be recalled shortly.

"It comes down to doing the right thing," said Andy McShea, Theo's chief operating officer.

The Tribune also found that Eddie's New York City Gourmet Pizza Slices listed flour in its ingredients without specifying the kind. Tests at the Nebraska lab showed the pizza contained 5,000 parts per million of gluten, indicating the presence of wheat, rye or barley.

California-based Safeway Inc., which owns the Dominick's grocery chain, removed the pizza slices from about 60 stores across the country, including 10 Dominick's in the Chicago area. Efforts to reach Eddie's J2 Broadway's NYC Flying Pizza Co., the Brooklyn company that produces the pizza, were unsuccessful.

Not all companies were quick to act.

Tribune testing found Kodiak Cakes Big Bear Brownies mix contained milk, which is not disclosed on the label. Joel Clark, president of Baker Mills, the Salt Lake City company that makes the mix, said the amount found in the Tribune test--940 parts per million--was too small to warrant a recall.

"At that level [of milk], I think we're OK, to be honest," he said.

In fact, federal law states that ingredients, including allergens, must be disclosed in labels. Moreover, experts believe there is no safe level for people with food allergies.

Told of this, Clark said he was considering placing an allergen advisory on the box.

No. 2: Know the scientific terms for common ingredients

Parents should understand technical terms used for major allergens.

Ingredient statements cannot use technical terms for common allergens, such as "durum semolina" for wheat or "whey" for milk—again to protect children reading labels. But the Tribune found two dozen examples of that violation.

At a Jewel-Osco on West 103rd Street in Chicago, and at other retail outlets, the Tribune found Lund's Swedish Pancake Mix, which listed "whey powder" without listing milk. Lab results showed that the mix contained 5,000 parts per million of milk.

"I understand the severity of these situations," said Scott Buhl, executive vice president of Noon Hour Food Products of Chicago, which produces the mix. "We should be labeling this as milk. We'll make that change right away."

Jewel-Osco spokesman Miguel Alba said the chain would pull the pancake mix from 185 stores in the Midwest "until the issue is fully resolved." The supermarket chain also pulled Violet Crumble bars from the same stores after the Tribune found the labels disclosed "whey powder" but not milk. The candy, a chocolate-covered honeycomb, is made by Nestle Australia Ltd. Spokeswoman Fran Hernon said the company stopped exporting the product to the U.S. last year.

Several other companies said they would pull products or change labels after the newspaper found labels listing "durum semolina" or "spelt" without specifying wheat.

Among them: Toronto-based ShaSha Co., maker of Ginger Snaps, which lists "spelt flour" on the ingredient label. Owner Shaun Navazesh said he would change the labels but not recall the cookies because he could not afford the financial setback.

"Our low sales already have forced us to shut down for more than two weeks," he said.

No. 3: Oats often are tainted with wheat

Parents of children with wheat allergies or celiac disease should steer clear of oats.

The Tribune tested six brands of oat cereal, and all had hidden gluten, most likely traces of wheat.

Experts say it is difficult to keep wheat out of oats because farmers often grow the crops side by side. A little wind, and oats can become tainted with wheat.

Cross-contamination also can occur when farmers use the same equipment to harvest, store and truck wheat and oats.

By law, labels need to disclose only ingredients in the product's formulation. Substances that might slip in through cross-contamination do not have to be declared, though more and more companies are putting such warnings on labels.

Tricia Thompson, author of "The Gluten-Free Nutrition Guide," said many people suffering from celiac disease, which can cause severe abdominal pain, know to avoid oats. But oat products, she said, should warn that they might contain wheat.

None of the six oatmeal products tested by the Tribune clearly warned consumers about the possibility of wheat, a major allergen.

But after the Tribune informed New York based-HappyFamily that its HappyBellies Oatmeal Cereal contained gluten, chief operating officer Jessica Rolph said she would relabel the product.

She added that consumers have been asking her company whether the cereal contains wheat. "Parents are definitely concerned about this," Rolph said.

The oats that tested highest for gluten in the Tribune examination were made by the Quaker Oats Co. Spokeswoman Candace Mueller said Quaker is aware that cross-contamination can occur in its oats, but "we are confident that our labels are accurate and our products are safe."

No. 4: Beware of imports

Parents should know imports are often unchecked and mislabeled.

The Tribune found imports with incomplete labels or ingredients listed in foreign languages—each a violation of the law.

Among the examples: Valencianos Artisanal Crackers, manufactured in Spain and sold at Whole Foods.

The distributor, Forever Cheese of Long Island City, N.Y., initially maintained that the rules didn't apply to the firm because it imports only a small volume of the crackers.

But the FDA said the rules do apply, regardless of how much is imported.

When told that, Forever Cheese acknowledged in a later interview that the packages were mislabeled and would be fixed.

Whole Foods said it would pull the Valencianos crackers from shelves nationwide as well as five other mislabeled products the newspaper identified in its stores, including certain apple pies and cookies.

Over the last 10 years, at least 1 in 7 recalls for undeclared allergens by the FDA and USDA involved imported food, a Tribune database shows. Most products were from China, where, experts say, there are few rules regarding labeling.

New York state authorities test many imports for mislabeled food, but few other regulators do. With few checks on foreign labels, many imports pose a significant risk to U.S. children with allergies.

"If I had a food allergy, I wouldn't eat imported foods," said Dan Rice, director of the New York state food laboratory.

No. 5: Don't eat unlabeled food

Parents should not guess at ingredients in unlabeled food; common allergens can exist in unlikely products.

Packaged foods must have ingredient labels. Retail food made to order, such as deli sandwiches, or single items in bins, such as bagels, are excluded.

The Tribune found 74 different packaged products sold without labels, including an array of baked goods at County Fair Foods in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood and at Casey's Foods in Naperville.

Tests on County Fair cookies showed that they contained milk and eggs.

County Fair President Tom Baffes said he was unaware of the requirement.

"We've talked about it from time to time," he said of listing ingredients on labels, "and it's just something that we have to take the time to do."

Baffes said that occasionally a customer will ask about allergens in the cookies, rolls and muffins produced there. Staff typically then will check boxes of dough, he added.

The store will begin listing ingredients on the baked goods, Baffes said, adding, "I think it's a good idea to have it out there."

Casey's manager Kevin Killelea noted that the store has allergen advisory signs in the bakery, a measure he thought met the legal requirements.

"If this isn't where we're supposed to be with this, we want to protect the customers," he said, adding that he would contact the FDA. "If it means that we must put it on our labels, then that's what we're going to do."

sroe@tribune.com

tgregory@tribune.com

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

Gluten contaminated products pulled from Whole Foods - Tribune 12/31/08

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-whole_foodsdec31,0,4055580.story

chicagotribune.com

ALLERGY THREAT: A TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Whole Foods pulls 'gluten-free' products from shelves after Tribune story

Report a month ago had found high levels of allergen in products

By Sam Roe

Tribune reporter

December 31, 2008

Responding to a Tribune investigation and mounting consumer pressure, Whole Foods Market said Tuesday it has pulled three popular "gluten-free" products because the items actually contain the substance.

The grocery chain also said it will devise a strict definition of "gluten-free" for products sold in its stores and begin monitoring the items so such problems don't recur.

The Tribune reported last month that its testing showed three Wellshire Kids brand "gluten-free" products sold exclusively at Whole Foods—Dinosaur Shapes Chicken Bites, Chicken Corn Dogs and Beef Corn Dogs—contained between 116 and 2,200 parts per million of gluten.

While the federal legal definition of "gluten-free" is imprecise, most experts view "gluten-free" as containing less than 20 ppm.

Gluten— a protein found in wheat, rye and barley— can cause allergic reactions in those with wheat allergies and severe abdominal pain in those with celiac disease.

After the Tribune's report, Whole Foods initially balked at removing the products, saying it was the supplier's responsibility to ensure the items were safe and legal.

But in subsequent days, Whole Foods received about 20 consumer complaints or inquiries, including from those who thought "gluten-free" meant zero-gluten, company spokeswoman Libba Letton said. The Austin, Texas-based chain pulled the products nationwide, but could not say how many items or how many of its 279 stores were affected.

"Listening to what our customers had to say, in addition to looking at the facts, we decided we just needed to go ahead and pull the products," Letton said.

Peggy Pridemore, whose 4-year-old son with a known wheat allergy had a severe reaction after eating the chicken bites last December, said she welcomed Whole Foods' action but wished the chain had done so weeks ago.

"It's shameful that it wasn't done sooner because they were knowingly putting customers in jeopardy," said Pridemore, of Hebron, Ky.

Her son is one of at least two children with wheat allergies treated at hospitals after eating the chicken bites.

The gluten-free market has boomed in recent years as stores have sought to attract customers allergic to wheat; those with celiac disease; and parents of autistic children who believe a gluten-free diet can reduce symptoms. Whole Foods, for instance, offers store tours of its gluten-free products and operates a dedicated "Gluten-Free Bakehouse" in North Carolina.

The chain said it began pulling the three products about a month after the Tribune's Nov. 21 report. They were made by New Jersey-based Wellshire Farms, whose owner, Louis Colameco, said the company stopped making them in June after discovering that the batter coating the food contained gluten.

Still, Wellshire Farms continued to ship the products already in stock to Whole Foods, and the retailer continued to sell them.

Colameco said he was disappointed Whole Foods decided to pull the products. "But they're the customer," he said. "What are you going to say?"

He said his firm has found a new batter supplier that can guarantee less than 20 ppm of gluten. The newly formulated products should be back on shelves in a couple of months, he said. And before distributing them, he said, Wellshire will conduct gluten tests throughout the production process.

Asked why he does not contact regulators and formally issue a recall for the three products, Colameco said the items do not violate any law and that a recall might suggest an admission of guilt, opening him to lawsuits.

The Wellshire Kids products aren't the only Wellshire items with gluten problems.

Colameco acknowledged that his firm markets products identical to the three Wellshire Kids items under a different brand name: Garrett County. This brand, he said, is not sold at Whole Foods but mostly at health-food stores nationwide.

The Gluten-Free Grocery, on Mannheim Road in Westchester, had carried the Garrett County "gluten-free" chicken and beef dogs. But owner Cindy Day Erwin said she pulled them in November after reading about the Tribune report on the Wellshire Kids brands.

"I would be doing a disservice to my customers to allow a product that has known gluten concerns" to be for sale, she said.

The Tribune recently purchased the Garrett County brand chicken bites, chicken dogs and beef dogs and had them tested at a University of Nebraska laboratory specializing in food allergens. The results showed gluten levels as high as 2,000 ppm.

Colameco said his firm stopped making the Garrett County brand products the same time it halted production of the Wellshire Kids items. He said he no longer had either brand in stock and did not know how much Garrett County product remained in stores.

sroe@tribune.com

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

Finally a Great Sugar Cookie for Rolling Out!

GF/DF Christmas Cookie Cut Outs

1c. butter
2c. sugar
2 eggs
1c. tofutti sour cream
2t. vanilla
2t. soda
1t. salt
1t. powder
5c. GF flour mix--2 1/2 C. rice flour, 1 1/2 tapioca flour or starch, 1 c. cornstarch, 2 1/2 t. xanthan gum

Cream butter and sugar for several minutes and add eggs. Mix and add rest of ingredients. Mix and chill 2 hours or more. Roll out and cut. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes. For icing, put several cups of powdered sugar in a bowl and add tablespoons of boiling water until correct consistency.

Contaminated food 2

Another article from the trib - primarily on nut/dairy allergens in Whole Foods chocolate bars, but also has some gluten stuff. Seems like they're going after Whole Foods labeling right now.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-112308-allergens-whole-foods-nov23,0,241722.story

chicagotribune.com

A recipe for disaster

Whole Foods' handling of chocolate bar shows how warnings fail.
Search our database of recalled food

By Sam Roe

Tribune reporter

November 23, 2008

Whole Foods Market has long trumpeted its premium chocolate bars for being made the old-fashioned way, in Switzerland.

But two years ago it added another manufacturing claim to the product's labels—one that would appeal to millions of Americans who suffer from potentially life-threatening food allergies.

"Good manufacturing practices," the labels stated, were "used to segregate" potential allergens such as tree nuts, soy or milk.

The labels were informative, comforting and also untrue.

A Tribune investigation found that the chocolate bar was, in fact, manufactured in a way that posed a risk to people with allergies.

In 2007, a year after the "good manufacturing" label was put on the bars, a child with food allergies had a reaction after eating the candy, which contained tree nuts. Two recalls followed and the label was changed earlier this year.

But identical wording remains on hundreds of other products in Whole Foods' brand lines such as 365 Everyday Value and Whole Kitchen, leaving consumers in the dark about whether these items pose an allergen risk.

The story of the Whole Foods chocolate bars is just one example of how consumers are at the mercy of a food chain with little accountability and labels that are not policed for accuracy.

Getting any single product on the shelves of any grocery store may involve a dozen firms and suppliers, each one not entirely certain of the other's health standards. Even companies such as Whole Foods that market themselves as a healthier choice may know little about the safety of their products.

One key threat: cross-contamination, which is when certain ingredients inadvertently end up in other products during the harvesting or manufacturing process.

By law, ingredient labels must disclose whether products contain major allergens, but they do not have to warn about allergens that might slip into food.

In recent years a soaring number of companies have voluntarily put cross-contamination warnings on their products.

But the Food and Drug Administration found that some firms were using these labels to protect themselves from lawsuits, not simply to help consumers. The FDA has urged companies to not rely solely on labels and instead try to prevent cross-contamination by taking steps such as cleaning assembly-line equipment.

Now the agency is studying whether tougher policies are needed to ensure warning labels are uniform and not misleading.

Such measures might have prevented what Whole Foods did with labels on its chocolate bars and dozens of other products.

Whole Foods' "good manufacturing" label is one of the few that puts a positive spin on the possibility of cross-contamination, according to Steve Taylor, a leading allergy expert and director of the allergen laboratory at the University of Nebraska.

"If you are going to do that," he said, "you had better have your act together 110 percent of the time."

Walk down any Whole Foods aisle and you're bound to see products with labels boasting of "good manufacturing" practices.

Though they are gone from Whole Foods chocolate bars, the Tribune found such labels on more than 300 products in one of the chain's west suburban stores, including snack mixes, chips and cookies—foods prone to the kind of cross-contamination that is a major cause of allergic reactions.

Based on reading the label, for example, a consumer with a wheat allergy might consider buying Whole Foods' Blue Corn Tortillas because its label promises that "good manufacturing practices [were] used to segregate ingredients in a facility that also processes milk, wheat and soy ingredients."

But the reality is that segregating wheat from that product is difficult at best. Just ask Mike McCabe, a sales executive for Bueno Foods, the Albuquerque firm that manufactures the tortillas for Whole Foods.

Wheat dust in the tortilla plant "is really impossible to segregate" from non-wheat products, McCabe said.

Bueno cleans equipment and uses separate assembly lines for different products, he said. But wheat dust is so tiny and prevalent at the plant, he added, that "I could be breathing in wheat dust right now, and I'm two buildings away, in an office."

Whole Foods acknowledged the tortilla labels are problematic. The chain's director of private brand development, Nona Evans, said that in January the company conducted routine testing on the tortillas and found trace amounts of gluten, which is a protein of wheat, rye or barley. The company decided to place warning stickers on the product until new packaging could be made, she said.

But the Tribune found that many tortillas currently for sale have neither warning stickers nor new packaging with the proper language—10 months after Whole Foods said it discovered the problem.

Company officials could not explain why some tortillas aren't properly labeled.

Even so, Evans said Whole Foods' allergen-control practices are effective. "We sell millions of individual products each year, and the number of substantiated allergen related-incidents that we see are in the single digits," she said.

Whole Foods defended its move in early 2006 to place the "good manufacturing" language on nearly all its branded products. The goal, Evans said, was to offer customers information about the manufacturing facilities.

"We tend to over-inform our consumers so they can have as much transparency into our products as possible," she said.

Whole Foods continues to use the "good manufacturing" statement on many other items, Evans added, "because they are products that are not necessarily so allergy sensitive."

But allergy experts say any amount of hidden allergens, in any kind of food, can cause a potentially deadly reaction.

When asked if Whole Foods is confident that its blanket "good manufacturing" claim was accurate for each of those products, Evans initially said: "With the quality assurance program that we have in place today, yes, we are very confident."

In a later interview, though, she acknowledged that Whole Foods has been conducting a review of its products that began within the last two years to see if label changes are in order—a process, she said, that will take another year.

"Our 365 Organic Everyday Value Swiss Milk Chocolate is made in Switzerland, using slow, traditional Old-World conching, or blending methods," the label reads in part. ". . . All of our cocoa beans are grown organically in the Dominican Republic by a co-op of small farmers."

This is another way of saying that, like most food store chains, Whole Foods uses a web of contractors to produce its private label offerings.

In the late 1990s, an Arizona company Spruce Foods began importing the candy from Switzerland and selling it to Whole Foods.

About the same time, representatives from both the importer and Whole Foods together toured the Swiss plant, run by Chocolat Bernrain, according to Norm Petersen, co-owner of Spruce Foods. He said they saw that products were made on the same production line without cleaning in between. That meant ingredients from one product could easily end up in another.

But no warnings to that effect were put on the labels.

In the summer of 2002, a 2-year-old girl with a known milk allergy ate a piece of a Swiss Dark Chocolate bar. The toddler started coughing, said her throat hurt and broke out in hives.

After her mother gave her Benadryl, the girl recovered and the episode was reported to the FDA. Eight weeks later, that bar and eight variations under the Whole Foods Organic Swiss label were recalled for hidden milk and nuts.

Warnings were added. The problem went away, but not for long.

In early 2006, Whole Foods placed the new "good manufacturing" allergen statement on nearly all of its private-brand products. Within days, at least two consumer complaints were lodged with the FDA over the confusing nature of that warning language. One parent of a girl allergic to peanuts and tree nuts wrote: "How does one interpret this kind of information?"

Despite Whole Foods' claim, the Swiss factory still manufactured different products on the same line.

Then, last year, a child had an allergic reaction to a Swiss Milk Chocolate with Rice Crisps bar. Whole Foods tested the bars and found hidden hazelnuts, walnuts and pecans.

Whole Foods sent the test results to its importer, Spruce Foods, which contacted the Swiss manufacturer.

"And the manufacturer said, 'Why is anyone surprised?' " Petersen recalled. Nothing had changed. The Swiss still took few precautions to prevent allergens from slipping into its products, he said.

On Dec. 14, Whole Foods announced a recall of a limited number of just the Milk Chocolate with Rice Crisps bars. The grocery chain immediately tested other varieties of its Organic Swiss chocolate bars, finding similar problems. So a week later, Whole Foods again recalled eight varieties of the candy bars, 1.1 million in all.

"They watered down the disclosure, and it bit them in the backside," said Petersen. He blamed new personnel at Whole Foods for the decision. "They likely had never been over in that plant," he said. (Whole Foods officials could not say who from the chain visited the factory.)

In January, a Whole Foods staffer inspected the Swiss factory and concluded the equipment was so difficult to clean that hidden allergens were unavoidable. So the chain earlier this year rewrote the allergen statement and put warning stickers on the bars.

The stickers state the candy "may contain" certain allergens. But even this raises questions about whether the warnings should be stronger. A spokesman for the Chocolat Bernrain factory, Jost Ruegg, said it is "almost impossible" to avoid cross-contamination in the facility. "There are 19 chocolate manufacturers in Switzerland," he said, "and all of them are confronted with this."

The Tribune sent a Whole Foods Organic Swiss Dark Chocolate bar to the Nebraska lab. The candy's label said the bar "may contain" tree nuts and milk, and test results showed that it did. (Tests on the Whole Foods tortillas for gluten, meanwhile, came back non-detect.)

Whole Foods said that when it became aware it had a problem with its chocolate-bar labels, the company removed similar language from all chocolate products.

But the Tribune found several Whole Foods chocolate products still being sold with the "good manufacturing" label, including solid chocolate chips, chocolate chunk pieces, hot chocolate mix, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate ice cream bars and chocolate torte.

Informed of the Tribune's findings, Evans said the labels on four of those six products were appropriate because the items were so carefully manufactured and tested that they were virtually immune to hidden allergens. But she acknowledged that the ice cream bars and cookies were not so carefully made and that those products would soon be getting new labels.

Evans emphasized that Whole Foods collects detailed allergen-related information, such as the likelihood of cross-contamination, on all of its manufacturers and suppliers. And, she added, Whole Foods and third-party auditors inspect factories for allergen problems.

Asked why such scrutiny did not catch fundamental problems at the Swiss candy factory, she said, "It's a continual education."

sroe@tribune.com

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

Watch Out For Hidden Gluten!!

chicagotribune.com

ALLERGY THREAT: A TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Children at risk in food roulette

Mislabeling, lax oversight threaten people with allergies
Search our database of recalled food

By Sam Roe

Tribune staff reporter

November 21, 2008

American children with food allergies are suffering life-threatening--and completely avoidable--reactions because manufacturers mislabel their products and regulators fail to police store shelves, a Tribune investigation has found.

In effect, children are used as guinea pigs, with the government and industry often taking steps to properly label a product only after a child has been harmed.

The Tribune investigation revealed that the government rarely inspects food to find problems and doesn't punish companies that repeatedly violate labeling laws.

In disclosing ingredients, labels must clearly identify major allergens such as peanuts, milk, eggs and wheat. Millions of parents, teachers and baby-sitters scrutinize these labels to ensure that they are not giving children unsafe food.

But an alarming number of products sold as allergen-free actually contain harmful amounts, the Tribune found.

Many of the problems occur with foods marketed to children--candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream. Iconic childhood favorites such as Oreos, Pop-Tarts, Frosted Flakes, Jello-O and Campbell's Spaghettios have been recalled for hidden allergens in recent years.

An estimated 30,000 Americans require emergency-room treatment and 150 die each year from allergic reactions to food. A large percentage were children, researchers say.

To determine the full scope of the problem, the Tribune created an unprecedented computer database of 2,800 recalls related to food allergies over the last 10 years. The newspaper found that roughly five products a week are recalled because of hidden allergens, making it one of the top reasons any consumer product in America is recalled.

But that doesn't mean the government or companies are vigilant.

Take the example of Peggy Pridemore, a Kentucky woman who bought Wellshire Kids' Dinosaur Shapes Chicken Bites because her son Patrick has a severe wheat allergy. Bold letters on the packaging said the item was "gluten free," or contained no wheat, rye and barley proteins.

After Patrick, then 3, ate the nuggets in December, he started coughing, his eyes swelled and he had trouble breathing. His mom jabbed his leg with a large needle containing epinephrine, a drug to help him breathe, then raced him to the hospital, where he recovered in the emergency room.

Pridemore said she contacted both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the food manufacturer and that neither offered to test the chicken nuggets.

The Tribune recently bought the product on two occasions at a River Forest supermarket and sent the samples to one of the nation's leading food-allergy labs, at the University of Nebraska. Both times, the lab found gluten. The item remains on shelves across the U.S.

"I'm stunned it hasn't been recalled," Pridemore said. "I thought somebody somewhere would do something."

Recalls swell, but mislead

The nation has seen a mysterious rise since the 1990s in the number of children with food allergies, now estimated to be 3 million kids, or 1 in every 25 children.

As awareness has skyrocketed so have recalls. But they are voluntary. Food companies themselves--not regulators--decide whether to do so. If they do, the companies work with regulators to coordinate the recalls and issue news releases to inform the public.

Yet the official recall statements by the Food and Drug Administration often downplay the true risks or lack basic information, such as where the tainted products were sold. One reason for the soft pedaling: The FDA allows the food companies to write their own recalls.

A recent recall statement, for instance, read more like an advertisement than a warning. "While the product is good and wholesome," it stated, "these soups may contain wheat or soy as ingredients not identified on the label."

In many cases, the government and companies never inform consumers. The Tribune found that nearly half of the allergy-related recalls in the last 10 years were not announced to the public. This was true even in dozens of cases where the FDA classified products as likely to cause serious harm or death.

Alarms sounded by consumers seldom result in products being pulled.

The Tribune examined 260 complaints to the FDA since 2001 where people with known food allergies--many of them children who had to be treated at hospitals--reported a reaction from products they claimed were mislabeled. Yet just 7 percent resulted in recalls.

Even when authorities concluded a product was at fault, the regulatory wheels moved slowly. On average, it took 32 days to issue a recall.

In one case, a girl, 14, with a known milk allergy was taken to the emergency room after eating muffins made from Duncan Hines chocolate chip mix. The illness was reported to the FDA, but the distributor, Pinnacle Foods, did not recall the mix until seven months later.

When asked by the Tribune why the recall took so long, Pinnacle said it immediately had the product tested but found no milk. A few months later, the company received a second complaint of an allergic reaction to the mix. Pinnacle said it investigated, this time finding a likely culprit overlooked before: a batch of chocolate chips.

Many manufacturers test their products for allergens and have set up special assembly lines to prevent cross-contamination. But other companies, particularly small ones with limited resources, acknowledge taking limited precautions.

Others do little or no testing, and the government does not require them to do so.

The FDA, which oversees the vast majority of packaged foods, said it trusts firms to police themselves.

The USDA, which regulates meat, poultry and egg products, is even more lax. It said it never tests for undeclared allergens, such as eggs or peanuts, because these ingredients by themselves are not prohibited foods--ignoring the fact that products containing hidden allergens are potentially illegal and deadly.

Testing shows risk

This broken system leaves families vulnerable.

Pridemore recalled how she bought Wellshire Kids' dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, made by New Jersey-based Wellshire Farms, because the item specifically claimed to be gluten free. She also found the same claim on the Wellshire Farms Web site.

After her son had the severe reaction to the nuggets, she took some to his allergist, who ran tests, including gently rubbing a nugget on the boy's arm to see if it would cause a small welt. It did, and the allergist concluded the nuggets were to blame for his full-blown reaction.

Pridemore contacted the USDA, which sent agency investigator Michael Maxwell to her home just outside Cincinnati. He took photos of the package, but did not test the nuggets for undisclosed allergens.

The investigator also obtained a copy of a brief, unsigned in-plant inspection report, which found no problems with the nuggets. He later acknowledged to the Tribune he wasn't sure who wrote the report--another USDA inspector or a plant worker. The report said workers routinely sent the nuggets out to a lab for testing. The report stated that those lab results, from last fall, "were all negative for gluten."

In an e-mail in January, Maxwell indicated to Pridemore that in light of that inspection report and the fact that no other consumer had complained, no action would be taken. "You may want to have the product tested," he wrote, according to a copy of the e-mail exchange.

Pridemore said she was taken aback that the USDA suggested she test the food herself. But she sent the remainder of the nuggets in her freezer to the Nebraska lab.

The results showed high amounts of gluten. So she e-mailed a copy of the findings to the USDA and reminded Maxwell that the product advertises itself as gluten free.

The investigator wrote back that the government had "archived your complaint." The investigation went no further, according to Pridemore. She also e-mailed the test results to Wellshire Farms. The company, she said, never responded.

In May, several weeks after Maxwell told Pridemore her complaint was archived, a second child with a known wheat allergy-- Timmy Osterhoudt, 5, of Lemoore, Calif.--had a severe reaction after eating the same product, his mother said.

"He said, 'Mommy, I don't want to die!' " Michelle Osterhoudt recalled. "I told him, 'Mommy won't let you die.'."

She jabbed him with the epinephrine needle and raced him to the military hospital on the base where the family lives. There, he recovered.

Like Pridemore, Osterhoudt sent the chicken bites to the Nebraska lab for testing. Again, the results showed high amounts of gluten. She said she complained to Wellshire Farms, USDA and FDA, but to no avail.

USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said one reason it did not ask Wellshire Farms to recall the chicken bites is because the agency did not trust the consumers' testing results. The consumers had sent samples of chicken nuggets from opened packages, raising the possibility that the product was contaminated somewhere between their homes and the lab.

Pridemore said it was the USDA's job--not consumers--to test samples from unopened packages.

"I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist," she said. "I'm just a mom trying to keep her child safe."

The Tribune recently bought two samples of the chicken nuggets and sent them to the same Nebraska lab. Both tested positive for gluten--including a sample from an unopened box.

The nuggets, said Steve Taylor, the lab's director and a leading allergy expert, "are not safe for people with wheat allergies or celiac disease," often characterized by chronic abdominal pain.

The newspaper also tested two other Wellshire Kids' products: the "Gluten Free" Chicken Corn Dogs and the "Gluten Free" Beef Corn Dogs, finding high amounts of gluten in both.

Wellshire Farms owner Louis Colameco said his products are safe. But he said that in light of the two consumer complaints and recent moves by regulators to tighten "gluten-free" rules, he halted production of the three Wellshire Kids' products in June.

Colameco said he would start making the food again when he finds a supplier who can guarantee that the batter used in the products is gluten free. The old supplier, he said, could not give such an assurance.

He said he has not recalled the Wellshire Kids products still on store shelves because he believes they are in compliance with federal regulations.

But weak and murky federal rules on gluten leave food companies wiggle room and consumers at risk.

The USDA, which has jurisdiction over meat-based products such as chicken nuggets, said it has no policy specifically addressing "gluten-free" claims. The agency must approve labels before products go to market, and packaging claims are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The FDA's rules are tougher. Though the agency has no specific rule for "gluten-free" products, the agency's policy generally is that absent a standard, products claiming to be "free" of an ingredient cannot contain it.

Recognizing that food companies may interpret these rules as they wish, the FDA has pushed a proposed rule that products advertised as "gluten-free" must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. A UN health panel this summer recommended a similar standard. Tribune tests of Wellshire products all far exceeded those levels.

Apart from online sales, the Wellshire Kids' gluten-free products are sold exclusively at Whole Foods Market, the upscale chain.

Whole Foods said it was investigating the issue, but that it was the supplier's responsibility, not Whole Foods', to ensure the Wellshire products are safe and legal.

Tribune reporters Annie Slezickey and Jason Grotto contributed to this report.

sroe@tribune.com

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