Gluten Free Shopping

GF Shopping in Tucson

Basha's has a respectable GF section within its Northwest store.

Fry's has a small section devoted to health foods, also. Look for Ener-g tapioca or rice bread, Mrs. Leeper's pasta, Amy's frozen dinners, gluten free pastas, and Enviro Kidz rice bars and cereals.

Fry's also has a dietician on call who will tell you if a Fry's product is GF or not. Her direct line, toll-free number is: 1-866-632-6900 8a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays for GF info on store brands or any other product they carry. She will return voice mail messages, also. If you program her number into your cell phone, it can make shopping easier as you can check with her before you buy.

Safeway carries GF pastas, Enviro Kidz rice bars and cereal, and Puffin's Rice cereal.

Ask stores if they have a GF listing and be aware that the listings are not always up to date as the suppliers can change ingredients. Always read labels, even if you have purchased the product many times before. Call the manufacturers to find out if their product contains gluten.

The Celiac Sprue Association (CSA/USA) sells a Gluten-Free Product Listing. There are also gluten-free listings on several celiac disease Web sites and online forums. Always evaluate this information in terms of the source (did it come from the corporate offices?) and its date (the older the listing, the more likely the information has changed).

Fifty GF Things to Eat Right Now is a list supplied by the Oklahoma City Celiac Support Group.

If You're Visiting Phoenix

• Gluten Free Creations Bakery
  2940 E. Thomas Rd, Phoenix (behind the barber shop) (602) 522-0659
  Recognized by the Celiac Sprue Association as a gluten-free wheat-free bakery and is certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), a program of GIG.

GF Shopping Online

Note: Orders from Canada might be held up by Customs

Allergen Labeling

FALCPA

The Food Allergen Labeling And Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) took effect on January 1st 2006. It requires that food labels state the presence of any "major food allergens." These labels can take two different forms:

1. Manufacturers may include the name of the food source in parenthesis following the common or usual name of the major food allergen in the list of ingredients in instances when the name of the food source of the major allergen does not appear elsewhere in the ingredient statement. For example:

   Ingredients: Enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and/or cottonseed oil, high fructose corn syrup, whey (milk), eggs, vanilla, natural and artificial flavoring) salt, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), lecithin (soy), mono-and diglycerides (emulsifier)

   Note "(wheat flour...)" and "(milk)", etc.

2. Manufacturers may place the phrase "Contains..." followed by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients. For example:

   Contains Wheat, Milk, and Soy

Although this is a significant improvement for celiacs, there are some important points to be aware of:

• The law only requires that the presence of milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat, and soybeans be stated. It does not cover rye or barley.
• The law only requires information on allergens that are in the ingredients of a product. It does not address contamination from shared production lines or equipment.
• FALCPA does not require specific information about what ingredients contain an allergen. If a allergen is identified in the ingredients statement (the first example above) it need only be started for one ingredient. Subsequent ingredients with the same allergen do not need to state that they contain it. If the manufacturer uses a "Contains" statement you have no indication about what ingredients may contain the allergen. This causes uncertainty about whether an ingredient generally considered safe (vinegar, for example) is the source of the allergen or if it is also in another ingredient (which might be a problem).
• As food manufacturers review their products in light of FALCPA, some items that were considered gluten-free are being identified as containing wheat. In some cases these items are really gluten-free due to the processing of the food (distilling, for example).

For more information on FALCPA see the Frequently Asked Questions page from the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

The full text of FALCPA is available online from the THOMAS database of the Library of Congress (see Title II).

"When Food is Poison: the History, Consequences, and Limitations of the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004" by Laura Derr is an excellent (but lengthly) article on FALCPA (published in the Food and drug law journal 61, issue 1 (2005): 65).

Proposed Standards for Gluten Free Labeling

The FDA has released their proposed rules for voluntary gluten free labeling, based on a standard of 20 parts-per-million. To date the rules have not been finalized and the FDA continues to study the issue in spite of a requirment by Congress as part of FALCPA that rules for gluten free labeling be in place by August 2008.

As of April 2010 the FDA is conducting a "Gluten-Free Labeling of Food Products Experimental Study," which attempts to determine what consumers believe various types of gluten-free labels actually mean. A survey conducted as part of this study was stopped upon receiving 4,000 responses, leaving more people with celiac diseas or gluten intolerance who were interested unable to participate. At this time it's unknown when the FDA will move forward to finalized their rules for gluten-free labeling.