Haagen-Dazs "Five" ice cream

Just got off the phone with Haagen-Dazs about their new “Five” line of ice creams. These ice creams have only five all natural ingredients—and the company verified that they’re gluten free!

I asked the representative about processing. After each ice cream flavor they take the machines apart, wash and sanitize them, and inspect them to make sure they’re clean before they do another run. So no risk of cross-contamination, either.

The customer service rep also told me that most of their ice creams, except ones like cookie dough, ones with granola, etc. are gluten free. I’ve got to say, though, that the “Five” ice creams are delicious, particularly the Passion Fruit which is hard to find on the mainland.

I also suggested that they label their products “gluten free.” The rep told me that she’s received lots of calls about that and said she’d pass my comment on to marketing/advertising.

Really good gf cornbread

OK, I have to admit I had my doubts when a friend gave me a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread mix. How good could it possibly be considering the horrid gluten-free baked goods I'd had?

But I was wrong, wrong, wrong. This mix made delicious cornbread! I made it in a pie pan instead of the recommended 9"x 9" baking pan and it rose and browned beautifully (though it took about 10 minutes longer to cook than the package said).

The cornbread was tasty, though not terribly sweet like Marie Callender's. It was good alone with butter, or really, really fabulous with butter and a little maple syrup (I didn't have any honey).

And the best part? It hadn't turned into a rock the next day like many GF baked goods do. Just rewarmed it in the microwave and it was just as good as it had been right out of the oven.

It was just soooo very nice to find a baked good that actually tasted "normal!" I'm totally jazzed about this product.

Hall's Cough Drops

“Thank you for your inquiry concerning the presence of allergens in products produced by our company.

Our company complies with all applicable labeling regulations by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies in the U.S. In addition, we have implemented an internal food allergen management policy, pursuant to which we have undertaken the labeling of any known allergens in the following categories: cereals (containing gluten and products of these including wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt, kamut, and oats, but not corn, rice, sorghum, or buckwheat)…

All of our Halls products are gluten free.

We appreciate your inquiry and welcome any additional questions you may have regarding any of our products.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations”

Tropicana Juices

After a number of evasive emails, I finally got the following response from the Tropicana folks:

"We can say there is no gluten added to Tropicana/Dole products that are 100% juice. You can easily determine if a Tropicana product is 100% juice by looking for the Nutrition Facts Panel on the package; the percentage of juice is located just above that panel.

Having consulted further with our plant, we are able to say we don't have any gluten-containing ingredients in plants that produce Tropicana Pure Premium Juices. We hope this information is helpful.

Dan
Tropicana Consumer Relations"

Sensodyne toothpaste

"Thank you for contacting us regarding Sensodyne® toothpaste.

Sensodyne® Pronamel™ is gluten-free. Although we do not add gluten to any of our other variants of Sensodyne®, our raw materials suppliers could not guarantee that they are gluten-free. Therefore, other variants of Sensodyne® may contain trace amounts of gluten.

We appreciate your taking the time to contact us.

Sincerely,

Rabia
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare"

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam: Wonderful Spam!!!!

Actually, Angelita is a bit wrong. To find the gluten-free list you do need to click on "FAQs" at the bottom of the page. On the next page the Gluten Free Product List, a pdf file, is in a sidebar on the right hand side, not under Health-Related Questions.

Spam Musubi here I come! But with wheat-free soy sauce of course.

"Thank you for contacting us SPAM is gluten free. A list of our gluten-free products is available at www.hormelfoods.com - under FAQs, which shows at the bottom of the screen. The gluten-free list selection is located under Health-Related Questions.

Please feel free to call us at our toll-free Consumer Response number, 1-800-523-4635 with any questions regarding specific ingredients in any Hormel Foods product.

Angelita
Consumer Response Specialist"

Plochman Natural Stone Ground Mustard

My favorite mustard is Plochman Natural Stone Ground Mustard. It has mustard seeds and a great flavor that I like to use in my potato salad. Thanks goodness it's gluten free!

"Thank you for writing us and choosing our wonderful Plochman Natural Stone Ground Mustard, it is a very special product to us. The mustard is GLUTEN FREE!! The vinegar used is made from CORN.

Also, there is no wheat, rye,oats or barley in any of our products (this does exclude the two made with beer - it say's with Beer right on the front label!! ).

Therefore, the mustard is safe for you to consume.

Thank you,

Lisa Gibbons
Customer Service - Plochman, Inc.
Phone: 815/468-3434 x 220
Fax: 815/468-8755
Email: Lgibbons@plochman.com"