Gluten in Foods Labeled 'Gluten-Free' an Ongoing Problem

3 hours ago, sc'Que? said:

Have you ever purchased something from your neighborhood Asian grocery?  Yeah, no one follows those rules. And it sucks, because Asian foods are so EASY to be gluten-free if they just get their s$#& together on the labeling. The more consistency on an international scale, the better EVERYONE will be. 

Thing about Asian prep and cooking....they use wheat based soy sauce like most Americans use salt and pepper. It is used so often that it is a afterthought and most of the cooking and prep areas are precontaminated with it.
But thankfully we can buy whole foods and make our own quite easy, coconut secret makes teriyaki sauce, coconut aminos, and garlic sauce that makes for good substitutions. I have found various seasonings to make work also, and even found some Korean sauces that are gluten free. If soy is not a issue or other things then there are even more options for gluten free alternatives. Heck Jarrow Makes a spicy beef ramen bone broth powder that you just mix with hot water and put your noodles of choice and other ingredients in and simmer.

4 hours ago, sc'Que? said:

Have you ever purchased something from your neighborhood Asian grocery?  Yeah, no one follows those rules. And it sucks, because Asian foods are so EASY to be gluten-free if they just get their s$#& together on the labeling. The more consistency on an international scale, the better EVERYONE will be. 

If a food is sold in the US, then it must follow the US food labeling laws.  I have been to Asian groceries in the US and they do have a label with ingredients written in English.  However, never buy anything you aren’t sure of.  So, if you believe that Asian food producers are not truthful- don’t shop in Asian groceries.  There is still plenty of food in th US to purchase 

KarenG, I think you're missing my distinction between what you're saying (the way things *should* work) and what I'm saying, the reality that poor translation and what often times amounts to simply slapping a sticker on something to say it has an English-language sticker. 

I work in an Asian restaurant in a university town with more Asian restaurants and groeries than any other ethnicity (including Americana).  So there's a huge market for Asian foods here. I cook Chinese-, Indian- and Thai-fusion quite frequently.   Most of the beverages at our Asian markets do not have English ingredient lists. And so many of the food labels are bad Engrish.  Whenever I find a product I can trust, those brands are not seen in the store again for sometimes an entire year or more--and requesting specific brands seems to get you nowhere. Bottom line is that the Chinatown trucks and local store owners seem to have zero brand loyalty.  And that makes shopping for *trusted products* nearly impossible.  

On 12/11/2018 at 9:19 AM, kareng said:

In many countries, the US and Canada included, if the starch is wheat, they must declare that the product has wheat.  Usually it is “ wheat starch” or starch ( wheat).  But it can also say “‘contains wheat”’at the end of the ingredients.  I did see that once on some candy made by a small company .  the bigger companies, like Kraft, will be very clearly declare in several places that a food has wheat in any form. 

I see  no reason  to make our lives more complicated than they need to be.

I see a reason.  More complicated than WHOSE lives need to be?  I cannot have wheat, spelt, quinoa, corn, etc. and, with food allergies and sensitivities increasing, there are more like me.  No food with starch is safe for me unless I know its source is rice, tapioca, potato.  We with food allergies need ALL ingredient sources identified.  Otherwise, who except a food chemist could possibly imagine, for instance, that citric acid is sourced from corn?