I wrote this letter to the FDA this evening and am sending it in the mail tomorrow.
November 4, 2010
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002
To Whom it May Concern,
My name is Jennifer B, and I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is defined as an inherited, autoimmune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. It has been studied that 1 out of 133 people have gluten sensitivity, yet many of them are unaware of it. If everyone that has Celiac Disease knew about it, the disease would outnumber Type 1 diabetes (which I also have had for nearly 20 years).
I am thankful that you have implemented the requirement for food manufactures to list the common food allergies on their product labels. It saves a lot of time to see that a product contains wheat before reading the entire ingredient list. However, wheat is not the only enemy to a person with Celiac Disease as stated in the definition. Gluten in rye and barley are just as harmful.
Tonight, I made a gluten-free dinner with added ingredients not listed on the recipe. I did read the ingredient list of the product. Not seeing an ingredient where gluten was present, I added it to my meal. Afterwards, I wanted to see what other products may be gluten free from this company, and while doing this research found that the product did in fact contain gluten.
I am a mom of two very rambunctious boys and will soon be a full time student in college. Time is something that I don’t have a lot of to read and research ingredients in products I would like to eat. It would be much more effective and helpful to those of us suffering from Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance if a product label stated Contains: Gluten, Rye, or Barley, as well as wheat. There are nearly 150 different ingredients where gluten is present either naturally or as an additive. I know I may be only one voice, but I am confident that many people would feel more assured that they are eating the correct products and not damaging their bodies, if more than just wheat was listed due to the immense number of these harmful ingredients.
I would like to thank you for your time and attention on this matter.
Sincerely,
Jennifer B
As a mom of a Type 1/Celiac and also a college student, I feel your pain. We've been doing it for three years. I'd sign your letter and make it two voices.
ReplyDelete@ MO Thank You, it is a huge struggle and I am going to suggest that all that attend the local support group write a combined letter to the FDA as well. It may not happen in the near future, but if they get enough letters, they may get tired of it and implement that type of requirement =)
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