absurd marketing bullshittery

[Zero999]

Of course one of the most common is added sugar in just about everything. Do people naturally expect significant amounts of sugar in salty food? Yet it's there. But the list is endless.

One thing I never expected to have sugar added was packaged bacon.  Totally surprised me when I saw it recently.  (I don't think I've looked at the ingredients before).  So I bought the one without sugar added and guess what?....It tastes like bacon!  I'm wondering if the sugar is added to balance the salty taste.

Sugar is a natural taste intensifier, and can help (by drawing some water) with drying bacon.
Yes, bad world, as sugar is not considered something you have (legally) to declare for its taste intensifying abilities, so a producer could claim that it is "free of artificial intensifiers"

Sugar is often added  to meats to enhance browning, as it caramelises when cooked.I used to work at a supermarket where they sold, rotisserie basted chicken, which had sugar added to the marinade. It was only a little bit. Not enough to cause a problem to a diabetic.

[PlainName]

Was that actually a package of cheese, or "pasteurized process cheese food" or other industrial product?

it was some goat cheese with blueberries. can't find the wrapper.

I might be thick but I would assume that didn't contain milk or milk products. Sure, it would contain goat milk, but that's not 'milk' as we generally know it.

[Stray Electron]

I was munching on a bag of chips. Ingredients : Potato , safflower oil , salt.
In big bold lettering on the front of the package : Gluten free
Of course it's gluten free. it doesn't contain any wheat or other grains that contain glutenin.

 

They might as well put things like "Does not contain elephants" or "Comes without steering wheel"

what's next ?
A bag of salad that says "Vegan friendly" ?
A bag of rice that says "No cows inside" ?

post your marketing bullshittery gripes below. i'm curious to see what other bullshittery is out there.

   A "Gluten Free" label isn't bullshittery. It says that the product doesn't contain ANY gluten, not even trace amounts. Unlike products that are made in the same facility as gluten containing products and that can contain traces of gluten because of cross contamination. My wife is allergic to gluten and can't have even trace amounts of it.  One of her BIG complaints is that, in most places, she can't even eat the french fries.  Even though FFs are nothing but potatoes fried in oil, she can't eat them because most places use the same oil and and fryers to cook breaded items such as breaded chicken fingers.  And yes, eating FFs cooking in oil that has been used to cook any breaded product WILL make her sick. Ask me how I know! Her FFs MUST be cooked in a fryer and in oil that hasn't been used to cook any breaded food product. But surprisingly few restaurants are willing to have or use two different fryers.   

   Eating "Gluten Free" is a fad by some people but for many people it's a medical necessity.  I'm happy to say that many restaurants are becoming  aware of that and if you tell them that you want something gluten free then they will ask if you have a gluten allergy and if you  tell them "yes" then they will write it on the order instead of just verbally telling the cooks and food prep people so they will take more caution not to cross contaminate the food.  You would be surprised at how many times we're ordered simple things like salads and we find pieces of bread, meat, pasta and other vegetables in it that shouldn't be there and that fell in while the kitchen was preparing another dish.

[Zero999]

I was munching on a bag of chips. Ingredients : Potato , safflower oil , salt.
In big bold lettering on the front of the package : Gluten free
Of course it's gluten free. it doesn't contain any wheat or other grains that contain glutenin.

 

They might as well put things like "Does not contain elephants" or "Comes without steering wheel"

what's next ?
A bag of salad that says "Vegan friendly" ?
A bag of rice that says "No cows inside" ?

post your marketing bullshittery gripes below. i'm curious to see what other bullshittery is out there.

   A "Gluten Free" label isn't bullshittery. It says that the product doesn't contain ANY gluten, not even trace amounts. Unlike products that are made in the same facility as gluten containing products and that can contain traces of gluten because of cross contamination. My wife is allergic to gluten and can't have even trace amounts of it.  One of her BIG complaints is that, in most places, she can't even eat the french fries.  Even though FFs are nothing but potatoes fried in oil, she can't eat them because most places use the same oil and and fryers to cook breaded items such as breaded chicken fingers.  And yes, eating FFs cooking in oil that has been used to cook any breaded product WILL make her sick. Ask me how I know! Her FFs MUST be cooked in a fryer and in oil that hasn't been used to cook any breaded food product. But surprisingly few restaurants are willing to have or use two different fryers.   

   Eating "Gluten Free" is a fad by some people but for many people it's a medical necessity.  I'm happy to say that many restaurants are becoming  aware of that and if you tell them that you want something gluten free then they will ask if you have a gluten allergy and if you  tell them "yes" then they will write it on the order instead of just verbally telling the cooks and food prep people so they will take more caution not to cross contaminate the food.  You would be surprised at how many times we're ordered simple things like salads and we find pieces of bread, meat, pasta and other vegetables in it that shouldn't be there and that fell in while the kitchen was preparing another dish.

It's a minefield. Food allergies: peanut, wheat/gluten, milk, egg etc. are becoming increasingly common. The problem is, avoiding cross-contamination adds extra cost and it's virtually impossible to eliminate the smallest risk.  There's the dilemma of catering for everyone, including those with allergies and charge higher prices, or the majority and charge less.

[Stray Electron]

Having clear food labeling laws helps.

However if you are gluten intolerant, you'd prefer a clear statement that it's gluten free, rather that reading a long list of contents and miss something that may be grain derived. It's completely different from "Vegan" and sorts of which are not related to health risks.

If you stick with plain, ready salted crisps, you'll be fine. If a trace is an issue, due to cross contamination, then you have an allergy, not an intolerance.

  Wrong!   Gluten intolerance isn't an allergy, it's a medical condition where gluten can and will eventually destroy the villi in the intestines. Without the villi, then you can't absorb the necessary annuitants and you will develop a wide range of symptoms (see below). If it was an allergy then merely touching it on the skin would immediately produce a reaction and at that point most people would know that they had a problem, but an intolerance is much more subtle and takes much longer to recognize and historically by the time that anyone recognized it the damage was already done. And yes, there are a small number of people that do have a true gluten allergy but there are many more that aren't allergy but still can't tolerate eating it.

    People, including me, use the term allergy for simplicity but it's more complicated than that and if you're going to discuss it or make decisions about your diet or anyone else's diet and food needs then you need to understand the difference.

   If people with a gluten intolerance continue to eat gluten then they eventually develop Celiac Disease.  But technically by the time that it's considered "Celiac Disease" the villi are completely destroyed and the damage is already done and is irreversible.  They found the intolerance in my wife before she had full blown Celiac but every time that she eats anything containing gluten she has all of the symptoms described below. Even trace amounts of gluten will cause most of the symptoms listed below.

    Celiac Disease.   <https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/signs-you-are-gluten-intolerant>

 

[Stray Electron]

Indeed. Although there is a peanut allergy the warning is no doubt about possible contamination from other foods processed in the same facility which would be actual nuts.

It's arse covering. There's always the tiniest risk of contamination so they have tell people, so they don't get sued.

   Not as much as you might think.  In the US most nuts (not peanuts) are grown on very large commercial farms that usually grow a WIDE variety of nuts and that use the same machinery and the same production plants to harvest, handle, process and package the nuts.  Cross contamination is almost a given in those mega scale operations.

   Go to California and take a tour of the "Nut Tree" between Sacramento and San Francisco sometime. Or go into one of the Hershey's plants where they make nut laden chocolate bars.

[Gyro]

Packaging and processing equipment etc. - Did you not read what I wrote?

yes i did. company makes chips. only chips. but, granted there are others.

Have you any idea how long it takes to read through the ingredients of every processed food product you buy (and then search for the 'May contain traces... disclaimer)?

Granted. the lists these days are long (do we really need all that crap in our food ?)
I agree having upfront warnings are great but that raises the question : where do we stop ? Peanut allergy ? (they can use peanut oil to make fries ..) . Certain anti foaming agents used can cause severe reactions.

Soon on a package of chips near you : Gluten free, peanut oil free , olestra free , soy free , vegetarian (fries can be made in animal fat) ... see where this is headed ?
We live in a reverse world . The front says nothing, the ingredient list on the other hand...
The other problem is consistency. Brand a clearly labels their product "gluten free", other brands don't. And their products may very well be gluten free as well. Do you really think they do it out of compassion towards people who suffer from gluten allergy ? What is the size of that audience ? I mean the people who actually have a gluten problem versus the group who thinks they have a gluten problem ? That's my "irritation" .

I agree, at least partly, there is definitely an an issue of where do you stop. GF is a fairly straightforward one. Most hospitals have a Coeliac clinic, mainly targeted on helping people manage their diet and checking that it is successful, after diagnosis. For 'old hands' it usually a matter of an annual blood test, the occasional bone density scan (it affects Calcium uptake) and a chat with a dietician. Fail one blood test and you feel like a naughty child, fail two in a row though and you're likely to be threatened with the three-eyed snake heading towards your gagged mouth! It's a matter of managing a long term condition. Things like nuts, egg, dairy (? not sure about that one) cause acute life threatening symptoms. (Diagnosed) sufferers carry an epi-pen and with prompt medical attention, adrenalin, maybe breathing support normally fully recover within a few hours. These all clearly need to be specifically labeled. Things that cause contact dermatitis in some people, for instance, can probably be left to the customer 'that brand gives me a rash' response. Vegitarian, Vegan etc. are personal choice, but are already normally clearly marked. In short, anything that can cause medical 'damage' should be included. Consistency in labelling is definitely an issue, although in the UK, lobbying of government and manufacturers has lead to the widespread adoption of the 'crossed grain' symbol for instance.

Read the following attentively (there is a danger i will get flamed again) : Any new "fad" that comes along is picked up for marketing. I AM NOT CALLING GLUTEN ALLERGY A FAD ! i'm saying that there is so much buzz these days (like said before : by certain "specialist" magazines") that people start believing all kinds of things and start doing all kinds of things. Marekting picks that up very quickly and exploits it. That is what irks me.

As I mentioned the "the group who thinks they have a gluten problem" actually have a benificial effect for those of us who really do. The market and variety has grown rapidly in the past 10-15 years to exploit these people, it's supply and demand. I'm happy about this (things used to be grim, and would otherwise have remained so), apart from getting irritated by these people, their rattling on about it witout following it up, and the articles that drive them (but lots of people irritate me - I've reached that age!).

We live in a world where people go to the doctor asking (mandating) for all kinds of medications "cause they saw a commercial on tv". but doctor it hurts everywhere , it must be severe ! it hurts if i push here, and there , and there and there and there , anywhere and everywhere. In reality it turns out their finger is broken....

At least that isn't a problem in the UK. Advertising of prescription medication is banned (I think). It certainly doesn't happen anyway. The first time I saw it on US tv, I was truly shocked!

I was reading the label on some prepackaged bread ... you need a phd in chemistry to unravel what the hell is in that. if i make bread it's whole wheat flour (none of the bleached, enriched monthiamin crap) water , yeast (no aluminum-whatever) , a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar (to start the yeast) . My mom used to go to the local mill to buy flour ( there was a farm closeby that had a windmill. The farmer harvested wheat at the end of summer , ground it in the windmill. the only additives you would find in that flour would be an accidental unfortunate bug that got ground down by the millstones.)

[Informative rant]
That's an interesting one actually. Gluten is a completely man-made problem. Primitive wheat type grains, eg. Sorghum, were naturally virtually gluten free. It's many generations of selective breeding that have resulted in increasing gluten levels, first in hand baking, and then a massive increase with industrial scale food production, where manufacturers have demanded higher and higher gluten levels in their Wheat supplies. Wheat is (was?) cheap, it's the gluten which is the aptly named 'glue' that makes it possible to manufactur the 'nice' soft uniform supermarket sliced loaf, likewise cakes, pastry etc. It's a dirt cheap binder and thickener. Without it things just crumble, can't be machine sliced etc. If they can't use gluten then they have to resort to more expensive alternatives like pure corn starch, Xanthan gum etc. to achieve the same effect - it costs them more. Gluten levels are now so high that even people without an actual medical condition may actually be starting to suffer the magazine article 'bloating' etc. I don't know.
[/Informative rant]

[Stray Electron]

It's not bullshittery, a coeliac friend really opened my eyes to foods that *shouldn't* contain gluten but often do without listing on the ingredients (grated cheese for instance)

   Yeap, just about all grated cheese is dusted with flour to prevent the strands from sticking together.  That's just one of the many products that you won't expect to find gluten but you do.  I dare any of you to look through the list of ingredients in your regular food purchases and see how many contain gluten! In my experience probably well over 80%.  It's RARE that any soup doesn't have gluten and even things like the roasted chicken and sliced meats sold in the delicatessen have been injected with water containing gluten in order to make them weigh more and thus more profitable.  Go read the list of ingredients! 

[Stray Electron]

Sugar is a natural taste intensifier, and can help (by drawing some water) with drying bacon.
Yes, bad world, as sugar is not considered something you have (legally) to declare for its taste intensifying abilities, so a producer could claim that it is "free of artificial intensifiers"

   Yeap, anytime that I see words like "artificial" my BS meter goes off! You would be amazed at some of the "natural" and even "Organic" crap that is added to food today!  Go look up the list of ingredients of a package of Twinkies!

   As one previous posted pointed out, you can buy a bottle of "Cranberry Juice" and, if you choose well, it will say "100% juice", but if you read closer you're likely to find that it's 80%  apple or other cheap juice instead of the Cranberry Juice that you wanted.

[Ranayna]

Among the more ridiculous looking food marketing claims i have seen is certified organic mineral water.
Mineral water is already extremely regulated in Germany, the organic certification does not really do much, if anything.
Not even mentioning the question whatever the heck is "organic" ("Bio") about Mineral Water. I very much hope so that there is nothing organic in that water :p

Another thing that looks ridiculous, but may not actually be, is vegan apple juice. It should be obvious that apple juice is vegan.
But it does not have to be: To get clear juice, gelatine can be used. Enough of it removed afterwards so that it is not required to be listed as ingredient.

From what i can see, call the current "Gluten awareness" a fad or not (i'm sure it is a fad in many cases), it has made getting groceries for people with celiac disease a lot easier. Those labels, similar to Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher or Halal don't take anything away from me, so i just do not really care about them.

I myself have a mild food intolerance. Interestingly my case seems to be somewhat rare, and i can't find much about my circumstances. I can't eat anything containing "Yeast Extract". If i do, i will get a lasting headache for about a day, the strength is related to the amount i eat. But, and that is the interesting thing: I am totally fine with MSG.
But since there is a lot of FUD going around regarding MSG, many manufacturers replaced MSG with yeast extract.
I dread any product that claims "New improved recipe" or "No artificial flavor enhancers". Almost all of these have introduced yeast extract.

[free_electron]

In short, anything that can cause medical 'damage' should be included. Consistency in labelling is definitely an issue, although in the UK, lobbying of government and manufacturers has lead to the widespread adoption of the 'crossed grain' symbol for instance.

that would be the perfect way of doing it. a simple symbol in a fixed position on packaging. informative, targeting the audience it is for and to the point.

but lots of people irritate me - I've reached that age!

i've joined that club recently...

The first time I saw it on US tv, I was truly shocked!

you should see some of them. for depression,  "happy pills" ... And the ads in magazines. Once you are over 50 your doctor becomes your dealer. Have some lipitor , we'll throw in a bunch of others too.

. Gluten is a completely man-made problem. Primitive wheat type grains, eg. Sorghum, were naturally virtually gluten free. It's many generations of selective breeding that have resulted in increasing gluten levels, first in hand baking, and then a massive increase with industrial scale food production, where manufacturers have demanded higher and higher gluten levels in their Wheat supplies. Wheat is (was?) cheap, it's the gluten which is the aptly named 'glue' that makes it possible to manufactur the 'nice' soft uniform supermarket sliced loaf, likewise cakes, pastry etc. It's a dirt cheap binder and thickener. Without it things just crumble, can't be machine sliced etc. If they can't use gluten then they have to resort to more expensive alternatives like pure corn starch, Xanthan gum etc. to achieve the same effect - it costs them more. Gluten levels are now so high that even people without an actual medical condition may actually be starting to suffer the magazine article 'bloating' etc. I don't know.

Well , there is a story going around about the french baguettes The french had baguettes for hundreds of years (and regular round loaves of bread). When the US came to liberate france after ww2 they brought massive amounts of american white flour.
the french tried making their usual bread and it didn't really work well. they are used to a more coarse flour. (pain gris : grey bread) This american white fine flour just did not produce what they were used to so they altered the process and ended up with what is now seen as a baguette. The french have different styles of baguettes. Flutes, batards , batons, ficelles , pistolets...  When i grew up we were living like 10kilometres from the french border. every saturday morning , early : drive into france to the boulangerie and get a bunch of freshly baked stuff...
breakfast was croissants .. plain , chocolate, curled ones with raisins ... lunch was baguette jampbon-fromage.. ( the Boucherie : butchers) was right nextdoor to the boulangerie... tasty french boiled ham ... pate ... and the cheese shop was across the street ...  every couple of weeks we drove a bit deeper ( like 20 more km) to go to Auchan : a big french supermarket. to buy wine and other things. They had an electronics section where there was an amstrad computer. with BASIC in FRENCH !  every keyword was translated in french !  POUR x = 1 VERS 10. IMPR (short for imprimez , print ) .. that's all i remember ... it was a brown machine with a casette on the right side of the keyboard..

[free_electron]

Yeap, just about all grated cheese is dusted with flour to prevent the strands from sticking together.  That's just one of the many products that you won't expect to find gluten but you do.  I dare any of you to look through the list of ingredients in your regular food purchases and see how many contain gluten! In my experience probably well over 80%.  It's RARE that any soup doesn't have gluten and even things like the roasted chicken and sliced meats sold in the delicatessen have been injected with water containing gluten in order to make them weigh more and thus more profitable.  Go read the list of ingredients!

question : are we talking gluten or glutenin ? as i understand it gluten forms when you add water to flour and knead it. it is the kneading that forms the molecular strands.

on the topic of cheese. i saw a recipe the other day to make home made mozzarella ..  I Was curious, so i watched it.
You take milk, butter or margarine, salt, corn starch, make a paste , add some store bought mozzarella , roll it in a ball , refrigerate. now you have home made mozzarella  no you don't . you made crap.

https://fb.watch/dcJ22gdjYd/

[wraper]

But, and that is the interesting thing: I am totally fine with MSG.
But since there is a lot of FUD going around regarding MSG, many manufacturers replaced MSG with yeast extract.
I dread any product that claims "New improved recipe" or "No artificial flavor enhancers". Almost all of these have introduced yeast extract.

Dreaded MSG is naturally contained in many if not most of the products, including yeast. So yeast extract is a way how to put a lot of MSG which is not chemically clean into a product without ever mentioning MSG. A similar thing happens with shampoo. If you read something like Sodium Coco Sulfate, It means a dirty version of  namely sodium lauryl (SLS) and sodium laureth (SLES) sulfates where it's way less controlled what's actually there. But sounds way more natural.

[CatalinaWOW]

Sometimes you wish there was some bullshittery.  Here in the US, the ingredient list runs from highest percentage to lowest percentage though the actual percentage is not required (allows for trade secrets on recipes).  The wife bought into one of those diet programs where they provide the food.  One day I idly looked at the can which contained tuna salad and the first ingredient on the the list was titanium dioxide.  No wonder folks lose weight on such diets.

[Ranayna]

That was the same in the EU for a long time. Only recently the percentage of "prominent" ingredients has to be included.
Your tuna salad would have to list the amount of tuna, for example.

When looking at nutritional tables on US products, i find it ridiculous that the manufacturers are allowed to round down. Crap like that results in "sugarfree" Tic Tacs, that are actually 90% or more sugar. 

[jonovid]

green logic in labels

food resources are limited, now there is less, thanks to you.
or

carbon dioxide is a problem, so why are you breathing.

[TimFox]

That was the same in the EU for a long time. Only recently the percentage of "prominent" ingredients has to be included.
Your tuna salad would have to list the amount of tuna, for example.

When looking at nutritional tables on US products, i find it ridiculous that the manufacturers are allowed to round down. Crap like that results in "sugarfree" Tic Tacs, that are actually 90% or more sugar. 

The legal reason is that the sugar content of a single serving of one Tic Tac is slightly less than 0.5 g, and the regulation kicks in at 0.5 g.  The footnote on the nutrition label states "less than .5g" for the "0g Sugars" line.
However, the label does not state "sugar free":  just "less than 2 calories per mint".  Diabetics and others should look for a "sugar free" label.  This is an example of why "sugar free", "gluten free", "lactose free" and other such labels are important.

edited for punctuation typo

[Bassman59]

The wife bought into one of those diet programs where they provide the food.  One day I idly looked at the can which contained tuna salad and the first ingredient on the the list was titanium dioxide.  No wonder folks lose weight on such diets.

Titanium dioxide is a very common (likely the most common) pigment -- it's what makes white paint white. It's also used as a food coloring.

[WA1ICI]

I've seen bottles of cheap vodka labeled "Gluten Free".  That's probably because they came from the same factories that convert corn into the ethanol that gets added to our gasoline (up to 10%). 

- John Atwood

[CatalinaWOW]

The wife bought into one of those diet programs where they provide the food.  One day I idly looked at the can which contained tuna salad and the first ingredient on the the list was titanium dioxide.  No wonder folks lose weight on such diets.

Titanium dioxide is a very common (likely the most common) pigment -- it's what makes white paint white. It's also used as a food coloring.

I am aware of that.  But wouldn't you be surprised to find rock dust as the prime ingredient in your cookies.  Maybe in Haiti where the poor are known to eat mud cookies to stave off the hunger pangs of starvation.

[metrologist]

[to op] In the tech industry, we may call this Specsmanship

[james_s]

After dating somebody with a gluten allergy I can say that labels like this are very useful. Prior to meeting her I was only vaguely aware of what gluten was, it's nice to not have to read a list of ingredients and hope I didn't make an incorrect assumption.

My favorite warnings are the ones that say "may contain nuts" ...on a package of nuts.

[Stray Electron]

My favorite warnings are the ones that say "may contain nuts" ...on a package of nuts.

   The nut packagers have had to go to extremes so that they can't be sued by people looking for an easy PayDay.  Just like the manufacturers that put California Proposition 65 warnings on EVERYTHING that they make.

[jasonRF]

Have you any idea how long it takes to read through the ingredients of every processed food product you buy (and then search for the 'May contain traces... disclaimer)?

Granted. the lists these days are long (do we really need all that crap in our food ?)
I agree having upfront warnings are great but that raises the question : where do we stop ? Peanut allergy ? (they can use peanut oil to make fries ..) . Certain anti foaming agents used can cause severe reactions.

Soon on a package of chips near you : Gluten free, peanut oil free , olestra free , soy free , vegetarian (fries can be made in animal fat) ... see where this is headed ?
We live in a reverse world . The front says nothing, the ingredient list on the other hand...
The other problem is consistency. Brand a clearly labels their product "gluten free", other brands don't. And their products may very well be gluten free as well. Do you really think they do it out of compassion towards people who suffer from gluten allergy ? What is the size of that audience ? I mean the people who actually have a gluten problem versus the group who thinks they have a gluten problem ? That's my "irritation" .

Read the following attentively (there is a danger i will get flamed again) : Any new "fad" that comes along is picked up for marketing. I AM NOT CALLING GLUTEN ALLERGY A FAD ! i'm saying that there is so much buzz these days (like said before : by certain "specialist" magazines") that people start believing all kinds of things and start doing all kinds of things. Marekting picks that up very quickly and exploits it. That is what irks me.

We live in a world where people go to the doctor asking (mandating) for all kinds of medications "cause they saw a commercial on tv". but doctor it hurts everywhere , it must be severe ! it hurts if i push here, and there , and there and there and there , anywhere and everywhere. In reality it turns out their finger is broken....

I'd rather have a complete ingredients list without omission of anything. If that list is as long as my arm : ditch it...

You do know that "gluten-free" is not the same thing as "nominally gluten-free ingredients", right?

I wonder why you are so irritated by a company adding two words to a label?  Adding dozens or even hundreds of words detailing how every ingredient was grown, processed, shipped, and stored, along with detailed description of the processing plant, how it is cleaned, etc., would really be preferred?  Even if it means that the roughly 1% of the population that has celiac disease now needs to spend even more hours in the grocery store reading labels? 

When our elder daughter was 4 she stopped growing, couldn't gain weight, and had unusual neurological problems.  Turns out she had celiac disease.  Symptoms can be all over the place because of the malnourishment caused by damaged intestines.  No absorption of B vitamins?
 Expect neurological issues. 

When she gets contaminated food, it effects her for a number of days.  Sometimes for a week or more.  It causes gut pain, insomnia, anxiety, and foggy-headedness (try to do math homework when your brain isn't functioning correctly!).  It isn't just an upset stomach or something mild like that.  Antihistimines don't help - it isn't an allergy.  She just needs to wait until her intestines recover.  If getting 'glutened' happens too often the malnourishment can cause serious long-term health problems.  But if she can stay on a strict gluten-free diet, there are basically no other health problems associated with this disease.  In that sense it is the 'easiest' of the autoimmune disorders. 

We have spent countless hours in grocery stores reading labels, and many labels are ambiguous.  Companies that are willing to do the work to determine that their products are gluten free get our business, even if they charge more.  And even then we have been burned.  When Cheerios went gluten-free our daughter started eating them and got sick - a few days later they announced a recall of their products.   

Likewise, medications can be the culprit.  So we have also spent lots of time waiting for the pharmacist to call the pharmaceutical company to figure out if their product is gluten-free - and sometimes it isn't or the company doesn't know.  Then we have to ask the doctor for alternative prescriptions, and the pharmacist calls more companies, etc.  This process can literally take hours.  And if the pharmaceutical company is in another time-zone or has limited hours of support it can take more than a day.  I have called pharmaceutical companies myself on many occasions as well.    And yes, she has been sick from both over-the-counter and prescription meds. 

Are you irritated by pharmaceutical companies labeling medications as well?

Should we go back to "the good old days" when we didn't worry about this stuff, products had simple labels and people like my daughter were perpetually ill?

[TimFox]

And, of course, some think that what they don't know can't hurt them...