Celiacs are used to reading labels carefully but sometimes that is not enough. The warning that there were some wheat products somewhere in the same factory does not mean that the container whose label you are reading at the moment is cross contaminated. It is, at most, a caution.

  We might think of this as a hierarchy in which:

              “prepared in a dedicated gluten free facility” is the best possible news.

           “prepared in a facility that also processes nuts, soy (or any allergen besides wheat, barley, and rye) is good news.

           “prepared in a facility that processes wheat, etc.” is a caution. Unfortunately, it may be merely a statement mandated by the company’s legal department to shield the manufacturer against law suits. It reminds me of the paper coffee cups that officially inform me that “the liquid in this cup is hot”.

  Where do we draw the line? I wish I knew! Eventually, this problem will go away when the Food and Drug Administration finally mandates that the term “gluten free” applies to food that has been tested and found to contain less than 20 parts-per-million gluten. (Details may change, but what I just said is reasonably certain,) When that happens, the facility in which the item is produced will no longer be relevant.

  In the meantime, whenever I talk about a food product I must be careful to talk about the facility in which it was produced. That is one of my resolutions for 2008. I am grateful to the visitor who left a comment reminding me of this obligation. Keep in touch! Keep me honest.