Gluten Free Beer Tasting Event

Harvester Brewing is having a gluten-free beer tasting event October 28th at 7:00 pm in the Brooklyn neighborhood. We are in the start up process of opening Portland's first gluten free brewery.

 

The entire event is free.

 

We will have several styles of gluten-free beer including pales, ambers, browns, and a couple of seasonal suprises.

 

There will be gluten-free food pairings by local chef Ralph Capolupo.

 

Please send an email to: bentbrewing@gmail.com letting us know if you plan to attend and how many will be in your party and any additional question and we will send you the details on the location and parking.

 

Thank you,

 

James & Kat

Harvester Brewing

Halloween and Trick or Treating

A Trick or Treat tip from Connie Sarros:

Children get very excited about dressing up and going trick or treating. But when the child is a celiac, or has food allergies, it helps to plan ahead so the evening is fun for your child. One option is to take "safe" candy to your neighbors ahead of time and ask them to hand this out to your child on Halloween. Have a bag of assorted "safe" candies and treats at home. After trick or treating, let your child trade the disallowed sweets for items in your homemade goodie bag. (Hint: Have some really special items like a cupcake, or popcorn ball, or even Halloween stickers in the bag so your child will feel excited about the trade.) Remember that different sizes of the same candy can contain different ingredients.

This is a pretty cool site if you want to go check it out: gling.

I'm very excited to announce the launch of Gling, a fun (and free) Gluten-free Living online experience. Gling is mostly built around Recipes, Foods and Locations to help you make real life choices around your Gluten-free diet right there in your own neighborhood, as well as online.

In addition, Gling is all about content, which you can view on the Articles page. Here you'll find original content from Gling writers, as well as content from popular Gluten-free bloggers around the world. All of this is tied together with a hefty social networking backbone, including your own blog, friends and our twitter clone.

The concept for Gling woke me up at 3 a.m. one day late in 2008 and after tossing for 45 minutes, I finally decided to start writing my ideas down. I just couldn't forget what it was like for my family when we embarked on the Gluten-free lifestyle 7 years ago. Labeling was atrocious and online content scarce.

I founded Gling with one thought in mind: YOU. I wanted to create something that would allow people to have a set of tools to make real change. We're still very new and some parts of the application haven't been released yet. And at the same time, I think Gling is a great way for people to really make some changes in their life ... and to have healthy food be delicious, too! (What a concept!)

~Mike Lee, CEO/Founder

This Saturday Oct. 24 - GF Brunch at Virgo and Pisces

Virgo and Pisces is having a kick-off for their new GF bruncheon (waffles, etc) this Saturday. They are working with Lingonberries Market owner and Bavarian Mills creators to supply some of the GF goodies.

WHERE:

Virgo and Pisces Restaurant

NW 21st and Glisan in Portland, down from Trader Joe's and Cinema 21

View Larger Map

WHEN:

Saturday October 24th

TIME:

9 am to 3 pm; our Gluten Free group will all meet there at 10 am.

Looking for Support

I received this e-mail and was wondering if anyone knew of a similar family that would be willing to extend themselves and help these people work through this difficult time. Are you that family?

I'm the Gluten Free Friends, McMinnville Branch Manager and received a call from a very good friend in Portland, Joe. A friend of his daughter's has just been diagnosed (at age 12) with both Diabetes and Celiac Disease. Joe has celiac and is a doctor, not this family's doctor, but he want to try to help them find other families living with teens that have diabetes and celiac. The family is very overwhelmed and is looking for a family in the Portland Area that might be able to help support them.

Gluten Free Taste Fair!

A message from Megan Hornbeak, Marketing Specialist with Whole Foods

Hi all!
It’s time for another Gluten Free taste fair on Saturday, October 24th from 1 - 4pm. These are always a huge success and lots of fun for guests so we are hoping you can make it!

Whole Foods Market Bridgeport
7380 SW Bridgeport Rd.
Tigard, OR 97224
503-639-6500 x260
fax 503-639-6100

Give Away Winner

Thanks to Gaile for commenting. She's won herself a wonderful little box of cookies. Happy snacking!

McDonald's French Fries

Since it's come up again recently, here is where the gluten free community stands on McDonald's french fries:

The Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) has examined the commercial manufacturing process of the natural flavoring with wheat as a starting ingredient which is used in connection with the McDonald’s Corporation French fries and hash browns. CSA provides the following statement after knowledgeable, careful evaluation and review of the process and pertinent test results.

French fries and hash browns prepared in oils with this flavoring might be considered, commercially, to “contain no gluten.”

Third party analysis of the wheat ingredient of the natural flavoring revealed detectable levels of gluten*. Factors affecting the possibility of there being any residual gluten in the final French fries or hash browns include:

• The quantity of wheat ingredient used in the manufacturing of the natural flavor represents only a small amount of the overall natural flavoring formulation.

• The manufacturing of the natural flavor involves processes that significantly reduce or possibly eliminate the levels of gluten that existed in the original wheat ingredient. These steps are completed before the flavor is added to the frying oil.

• The quantity of natural flavoring added to the frying oil represents only a small amount of the total frying oil.

• The oil frying process increases the final potato product weight by a small quantity.

All these factors serve to greatly reduce the initial level of gluten from the original wheat ingredient. The calculated level of any residual gluten in the final French fries and hash browns is below the limits of detection (BLD) of the most sensitive commercial gluten test.

For those with celiac disease, the only risk free choice is products with NO WBRO, that is, no Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats and any derivatives or crosses in Product, Processing and Packaging.

The knowledge base, manufacturing processes and detection capabilities are always evolving and subject to re-evaluation and/or revision. This information is intended for people with celiac disease to use in making personal diet choices.

More detail about the test results on the presence of gluten in the french fries:

As it relates to the hydrolyzed milk, initial testing was conducted on the French fries and hash browns using a Neogen Veratox test at a 2.5 parts per million level of sensitivity. The Neogen Veratox test found no detectable intact milk proteins. As it relates to the hydrolyzed wheat, initial testing was conducted on the French fries and hash browns using a RIDASCREEN Gliadin ELISA test at a 3 parts per million level of sensitivity. The RIDASCREEN Gliadin ELISA test found no detectable intact gluten proteins. Because partially broken down milk or wheat proteins may be present, and they also may be clinically significant for an individual with a milk or wheat allergy, these tests are not definitive.

Consequently, we decided that additional allergen testing be done on these ingredients using the Radioallergosorbent Inhibition Test (RAST). The RAST test found virtually no wheat-allergic residues in the hydrolyzed wheat ingredient. The RAST test found some milk-allergic residues in the hydrolyzed milk ingredient. It should also be noted that the hydrolyzed milk and hydrolyzed wheat ingredients are only a portion of the natural flavoring and that the natural flavoring itself represents a small amount of the frying oil.

Official position of the Gluten Intolerance Group:

STATEMENT ON MCDONALDS FOR GIG BRANCH LEADERS
McDonald's and the Celiac Community

The Gluten Intolerance Group of NA, members of the American Celiac Disease Alliance, and others have worked at length with McDonald's, the FDA, research and industry leaders to help provide an answer to the outcry by the celiac and allergy communities to McDonald's recent announcement of wheat and dairy being in the fries.

A position statement from GIG, CDF and others in the ACDA:
The science and processing of refined oils does not allow residual proteins to be left in the oils at any level significant level to be detected or cause an allergic reaction. The flavoring agent added to the oil during par-frying is possibly suspect, however until information is provided on testing of the flavoring agent we cannot say if it is a problem or not. The flavoring company has stated to McDonald's that the flavoring has no allergenic proteins and since McDonald's policy is that the fryers used fry the French fries are dedicated and only used for potatoes, this would mean the fries are gluten-free. McDonald's is expected to make an updated statement about this situation in the very near future. We anticipate that it may include information about recent testing.

Choosing to eat any food is always the individual consumer's choice. If you feel uncomfortable with this information, it is ultimately your choice to eat the fries or not.

GIG and other leaders in the celiac community have taken a proactive position on advocating for safe food for persons with celiac disease and appropriate labeling. At the same time, it is important to recognize the need for education about how the law may initially cause confusion about ingredients that are truly safe and should not be required to be labeled, according to this law.

As we try to educate consumers, it is important that the community approach their questions and concerns in a calm, logical manner. This is not always easy to do when the health of a child or yourself is at potential risk.Ultimately, it will have positive impact on the food industry and their desire to work with us for our benefit.

Background:
The FALCPA law does not apply to McDonald's or other restaurants. It applies to packaged foods. The allergen information will appear on the packaging of foods purchased by consumers and those purchased by food businesses, such as restaurants, hospitals and schools. However, the law does not require such businesses to post this information.

McDonald's is a company that wants to be transparent and supportive of health initiatives within the fast food industry and the allergic community. In wanting to be transparent, they chose to disclose information about their fries, based on the package labeling information on the foods they purchase.

FALCPA is an excellent law, and will resolve the majority of labeling issues for persons with celiac disease, gluten intolerances and allergies. It requires that plain language be used on packaging to identify the top 8 allergens – wheat, soy, eggs, dairy, fish, shellfish, tree nuts and peanuts.

The law exempts from labeling these allergens in the event that the allergens are removed and the allergenic protein does not exist in the ingredient. An example of such an exemption is refined oil. The law allows companies to file exemptions for ingredients, if they can prove no allergen exists in the ingredient.

At this time, the FDA has not filed formal rulings on the exemptions filed.

The issue at hand:
McDonald's, wanting to be transparent and community-minded, disclosed the information on packaging of their fries, indicating that the FLAVORING Agent added to the par-fry oil included a wheat and dairy source, which the par-fry company states does not contain proteins (therefore cannot be allergenic).

People in the allergy and celiac communities feel betrayed and outraged with McDonald's for being untruthful in the past. They are angry and afraid.

Oil Processing
Refined oils are processed by cold, or heat and pressure extraction. Cold extraction oils, such as olive and peanut oils, are generally more expensive and less shelf-stable. They also retain their natural flavors, aroma, and nutritional values. Heat and pressure extraction allow oils to be more stable. Heat extraction includes oils that are extracted from the fruits and seeds under high pressure (up to 15 tons), known as expeller processing or a solvent
extraction process. Solvents are used to extract the oils from the seeds and then it is boiled to remove the solvents. These oils are often further refined using bleaching, deodorizing and high temperatures. Oils highly refined in this manner have very little of the original flavor, aroma, and nutrients of the original seeds or fruit. These oils have high smoke points and long shelf lives, making them ideal for frying. Scientists have stated that the bleaching process or high atmospheric pressure is enough to destroy the proteins.

Any flavorings are added after the deodorizing process to highly refined oils, otherwise the process would render the flavoring neutral.

The Flavorings
We do not know a lot about the flavoring used at this time, except what was reported in the press and by McDonald's.

Word reached Canada about the McDonald's information. Health Canada is launched even stricter regulations than they currently have in place for allergens. Health Canada is like the FDA in the US. This representative felt that even with their strict regulations, that these ingredients would be excluded from having to be declared on labels based on their lack of protein content. It is important to note that McDonald's products may be formulated differently in other countries; however, as the celiac community often looks to Canada for its strict gluten regulations, it is helpful to know how one person in Health Canada views this situation.

We are trying to encourage that an exemption be filed with the FDA by the oil and/or flavoring company.

Why the Confusion:
The confusion comes in that very few ingredients, that do not have allergic proteins in them have not filed for or been approved by the FDA as exempt from the law. Until they are exempt, the law requires that the label bear the starting ingredients if they are a top 8 allergen. This confuses and frightens consumers, who are depending
on this law to provide a measure of assurance to safety. We knew this would happen in the beginning and hope that the reaction of consumers to the McDonald's incident will cause the FDA to fast-pace the exemption process and stop the confusion. Remember that proteins cause allergic reactions. Companies must show no allergenic proteins are in the ingredient to be exempt from the law.

What Can We Do
First, do not panic. It is important we approach any labeling issues with a sense of fully understanding the process and issue. If the celiac community chooses react and lash out at companies, without having all the facts and full understanding, they risk isolation of those companies and others. The food industry is on the same learning curve about the law as consumers. They are watching how consumers react to labeling changes. History shows us that when we are supportive of the companies in the changes they make, they support us. When we attack, they and others will choose not to support the consumer community. Do we want companies to purposefully add wheat to their products so they do not have to deal with us? That is already happening. Wouldn't you rather pat them on the back and watch them do more to support our needs? That has happened, but could very quickly stop.

We ask that as leaders in the celiac community, that you help us to support the community needs by providing sound information and a calming effect. Help us to help consumers understand and act in a productive rather than destructive manner towards the changes. Help us to educate others about food processing and the allergen labeling law's benefits.

For more information about this information contact: Cynthia Kupper,
RD, Executive Director, GIG 206-246-6652

Cynthia Kupper, RD, CD
Executive Directo, Gluten Intolerance Group of NA
15110 10 Ave SW, Ste A
Seattle WA 98166-1820
206-246-6652; F: 206-246-6531

FDA Labeling Laws

A word from Andrea Levario, Executive Director of the American Celiac Disease Alliance

In mid-July, information was reported, which has now circulated among groups, and in blogposts, that the FDA's proposed rules on GF labeling "were effective in August." That statement is INCORRECT.

Since 2004, when we worked so hard to get the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act passed, the celiac community has been waiting for this announcement from the FDA. Unfortunately, it will be a bit longer.

According to the FDA,

"The final rule to define the food labeling term "gluten-free" will not be issued until sometime after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishes a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of its draft report on a safety assessment for gluten intake by individuals with Celiac disease. FDA will be soliciting public comments on that draft which will be

considered along with the comments we previously received on the proposed rule on gluten-free food labeling as well as the findings of the safety assessment itself in developing a final rule.

The notice on the safety assessment is expected to be published shortly, but it is premature to anticipate the issuance date of the final rule. However, when the notice and final rule are published, they likely will be posted at FDA's website:

www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/lab-cat.html#gluten

Therefore, you may wish to visit that website periodically for any updates."

It is not clear when the safety assessment report will be published. As soon as the ACDA can confirm the report is available, the information will be posted on the Celiac Listserv and distributed through our email network.

To sign-up for the ACDA's news alerts go to:
www.americanceliac.org/advocacy.htm
then scroll down and click on 'Action E-list'

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at
info@americanceliac.org

Andrea

Visit the Celiac Web Page at Http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC