I subscribe to several celiac-related mailing lists. Often I find messages posted that cause me to disagree strenuously with what is being put forth as fact. Over the years I've found it to be a futile exercise to disagree publicly in these email lists, as the common result is a flame war. Flame wars are so 20th century!
This week I saw a statement that seemed to me to typify the position of some folks in the celiac community with whom I almost always disagree.
A lady who seems quite intelligent, who composes her messages well, and who presents what seems to be strong positions made this satement.
"The only way you can be sure a food is gluten free is to contact the manufacturer."
I submit that the above is clearly and obviously false, and I further submit that I have no need in the first place to be sure that a food is gluten free. Please read on before beginning your attack.
Some foods are inherently gluten free, and it is ridiculous to consider that they may contain gluten.
Consider the potato.
I often buy 5 or 10 pound bags of potatoes at Ralph's Supermarket, and I have never once attempted to contact the manufacturer of a potato to challenge them as to whether or not wheat had ever been grown in their field.
So, perhaps at this point we can all agree that it is possible to know, at the degree of certainty that is required to take good care of ourselves, that the probability of certain foods containg gluten is so remote that it is an exercise in futility to concern ourselves about those particular food items containing gluten.
Such foods would include every single fruit known to exist, every vegetable that is not a grain, and all meat that has not had any non-meat ingredients added to it.
Of course in the category of grains, there are many grains that are also inherently gluten free. Rice comes to mind as a great example.
So let us reconsider the quoted statement above which first caused me to disagree, and being kind to the original author, let's try rewording it slightly and then see if we still disagree with her...
Perhaps she really meant to say "The only way you can be sure that a manufactured food is gluten free is by contacting the manufacturer."
In this case I am forced to wonder what degree of certainty we are talking about here. Are we acting as lawyers in a court case, such that we must prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that a manufactured food does not contain any gluten at all? I suspect that this would be a very difficult thing to prove. Certainly it would be possible to reach a point where we could say that using the best scientific methods available, we are unable to detect any trace of gluten in a specific sample of a specific food at a specific time. Obviously, this degree of certainty is not economically feasible, or even practical.
So how can we be sure?
I believe that, at least in some cases, we can't be absolutely sure that some manufactured foods are completely and utterly free of even a single molecule of gluten.
But I am also not convinced that we need to be so rigid as to suggest we really do need to contact the manufacturer of every single food we intend to eat, and grill them aggressively about every detail of the preparation of the food and the design of their facility.
I think that we can educate ourselves about the likely sources of gluten and READ THE LABELS on every single item that we buy. I personally read labels, and then I personally make a spot decision. It is a form of threat assessment - how likely do I think it is that this food will make me feel terribly ill if I buy it and eat it.
I have never paid anyone for a list of foods they assert to be gluten free, and I never intend to do so. I do recognize that some people feel the need for this type of specific guidance.
There may be some cases where there is an ingredient that is suspicious, or which we know may or may not contain gluten depending on its source. In these cases it seems reasonable and prudent to ask other celiacs or contact the manufacturer.
Are you familiar with rice stick? This is a sort of spaghetti-like thin rice noodle that is often used in Asian dishes. If you are lucky enough to have an Asian food section in your supermarket you can probably find it there. Typically rice stick contains Rice, or Rice and Salt. It is a manufactured food. I refuse to believe that it is prudent and wise for me to be afraid to eat rice stick because I have not phoned the manufacturer in China and asked them if it is gluten free.
But to go back to the original statement that got me off on this rant, remember the nice lady who warned us that we could not be certain that a food was gluten free unless we contacted the manufacturer?
Well, I do not need to achieve metaphysical certainty of the GF nature of a food before eating it.
I believe I am capable of assessing the risks on my own, without using a telephone, in most cases. For those other cases where I am not sure, well, isn't that why we are all here at the sensible celiac?
