Allergy members - how do you shop for food?

jjdrer

My nephew has severe Coelic Disease so cannot have ony foods containing gluten or that may have been cross-contaminated by other food at all. I buy some gluten free food when I do my shopping so that I have food he can eat when he and his family visit. I have to read all the labels carefullly because you expect to be gluten free aren't. e.g. there are biscuits and other goods labelled rice.......... Rice is gluten free but often they have other grains in them when you read the small print. Some thickeners and anti-caking ingredients have gluten in them. Some products are not labelled whether or not they have gluten in them. To my knowledge there is only two brands of chocolate sold in Australia that are gluten free. You can buy gluten free sausages and mince patties but you have to check the labels because the bulk of them contain grain. Gluten free food is very expensive. My nephew's grocery bill has increased by close to 30%. Some meals they all eat gluten free, others separate meals are cooked..
Some plain milk chocolates contain orange but they are not labelled at all. I recently spoke to a lady in a supermarket. Her daughter is highly allergic to all citrus fruit. She bought her some chocolate as a treat and it made her quite ill.
She rang the manufacturer and they admitted it had orange in it. When she asked them why the packaging isn't labelled she was told it was a small amount and they had been told they didn't have to including in the allergan contents list.