General Mills Proposed Gluten Friendly Line
UPDATE February 12, 2020: Thank you so much to everyone who emailed and posted comments. Comments were sent to General Mills today.
Their response: “Thank you for sharing this information. I will be forwarding it on to the team that is working on the concept. I think it is also important for you to know that based on all of the feedback we received from the gluten free community, we removed the images from our website as we reevaluate the entire concept. We appreciate all of the feedback that we have received on this topic.”
Yesterday morning (Feb 5) I woke up to messages about a gluten-friendly line from General Mills. This proposed line includes biscuit mix, brownie mix, frozen biscuit dough, and frozen baked brownies. Admittedly, I hit the proverbial roof, writing on Twitter:
As messages continued to pour in and there was some confusion about this product line (including on my end), I sent an email to a contact at General Mills to get the scoop. This is a summary of the information provided:
1. These products are not currently available; they are a concept in development.
2. Product photos, packaging, and labeling are mock-ups.
3. General Mills occasionally posts products online that they are looking to develop to determine if there is enough interest from their customers to proceed with the product.
4. If they move forward, these products would only be available through their Convenience Stores & Food Service division. They would not be available for retail sale.
5. The Convenience Stores & Food Service division includes restaurants, hospitals, senior living facilities and other food service providers throughout the country.
6. They asked to hear my concerns and questions (which I have since provided). I was advised that these concerns are appreciated and being shared with the team.
7. It was stressed that General Mills is not sure if this product line will move forward.
Folks, this is the time to make noise but in an organized fashion that we know will be heard by General Mills and shared with the appropriate team.
I am more than happy to compile comments and send them to General Mills. My proposal is for anyone with concerns to post your comments here on Gluten Free Watchdog. If you don’t want to write something publicly, please send an email (info@glutenfreewatchdog.org). I will cut and paste comments into one document and send them on their way.
Let’s make some noise!
Comments (171)
“Gluten Friendly” is a very confusing term, and one that people in the food service industry will easily mistake for gluten free. Shortening Gluten Friendly to GF is misleading and will no doubt cause people with celiac disease to get glutened, making them sick.
A note to General Mills: People with celiac disease must take our gluten free seriously. If you want us to be your customers, you must do the same. Be honest in your labelling so we can make educated decisions about what we consume.
“Gluten Friendly” is NOT Gluten Free! It’s for people that think a gluten free diet is a “Fad Diet” or for people that just think they have a gluten intolerance but not actually diagnosed with Celiac Disease! Celiac Disease is very serious & has to be certified Gluten Free before I’ll eat it. I’m already irritated enough with companies that think it’s ok to label their products Gluten Free when they contain oats! All Oats are NOT Gluten Free only certified are & not all Celiacs can tolerate them! So stop labeling them Gluten Free & put a disclaimer on the package that says “Not for people with Celiac Disease.”
As an older women, I already see retirement home, nursing home, assisted-living home situation in my future. Not being able to control meals in such a place is already a very stressful thought to me. To have “gluten-friendly” products that institutions would prepare maybe as gluten-free is very scary. Please,GM,stick with medical terms and descriptions we can trust.
As a person with both Celiac Disease and an allergy to wheat, I have to avoid anything that is not Gluten Free, preferably Certified Gluten Free. Too often, I have been sick by so-called “gluten friendly” products. When folks ask (at restaurants, etc.) if they want me to have them remove the croutons or wheat bread they forgot and put on my plate, my husband tells them “my wife will get very ill, as a person in good health would if there was just a little rat poison in their food”. That might seem a harsh response but it makes them understand. I get very sick, which includes symptoms similar to food poisoning. I also have a reaction when gluten gets on my skin and scalp. I am able to eat the General Mills Rice Chex and Corn Chex, but after getting ill from the Cheerios when they first came out, I am afraid to try them again, although they are supposed to be gluten free.
NO!!! Gluten friendly has made me very sick on one occasion. That will never happen again as long as I can help it.
After getting very sick from you alleged GF Cheerios from supermarkets, I will not buy them or suggest them to others.
Those of us who suffer from this illness/disease need help from companies like yours not fake products that make us sick !!!
It’s hard enough to get safe gluten free meals eating out, in hospitals, and in senior care facilities. By introducing foods that are Gluten Friendly but not gluten free, you make it even more difficult for staff to understand what foods are safe and put consumers who need to eat gluten free at risk.
My daughter is 3 with Celiac’s and we, her parents, already have enough anxiety over food. If this product is released, that would compound. You are effectively saying you don’t care if people are poisoned in your attempt at making money and that is shameful! You, General Mills, would be responsible for thousands of people getting seriously and unnecessarily ill. If you want to start a GF line, do it right and make a true GF product.
NO!!! Gluten friendly has made me very sick on one occasion. That will never happen again as long as I can help it.
After getting very sick from you alleged GF Cheerios from supermarkets, I will not buy them or suggest them to others.
Those of us who suffer from this illness/disease need help from companies like yours not fake products that make us sick !!!
As a person who has celiac disease and as a registered dietitian who helps others who have celiac disease, I find it infuriating that a company would add more confusion to an already difficult to navigate diet, while also potentially harming consumers. Please do your research on celiac disease. We depend on food labels to protect our health, unlike gluten-free fad dieters. Please use transparency in labeling, and if you are going to market for truly gluten-free products that are not at risk for cross-contact and test for >20ppm gluten, get it certified gluten free. It will be worth the money in cost from having the trust of customers purchasing your products.
NO!!! GLUTEN FRIENDLY DOES NOT EXIST IF YOU HAVE CELIAC DISEASE!!! Please CERTIFY YOUR PRODUCTS WITH GLUTEN-FREE IF THEY ARE GLUTEN-FREE SO THEY ARE SAFE FOR PEOPLE WITH CELIAC DISEASE.
I wholeheartedly agree with this comment. This loose term “gluten friendly” really harms those of us on gluten free diet for Celiac disease. These products will be confused with truly gluten free products.
We do not need to introduce any more confusion into the food service sector about what “gluten free” means. As someone with Celiac disease, I am horrified to think I could be fed these products if in a hospital or other institutional setting.
General Mills should invest their R&D dollars in creating new truly gluten free products at WHO standards.
Disgusting! “Gluten-Friendly” is a way of marketing something that is a medically-prescribed diet for those who aren’t REQUIRED to follow it. Anyone who seriously follows a GF diet would NEVER eat something labelled “gluten friendly” because we know it’s a lazy way of trying to expand your market without any concern for those who would get ill from eating gluten. As a purchaser of gluten free items for my family, I would NEVER buy these. I also have very little respect for General Mills due to their handling of labelling Cheerios as GF (as well documented by Gluten Free Watch Dog). This is just another step towards alienating customers.
We in the celiac community are used to the GF symbol meaning Gluten Free. By saying something is gluten friendly General Mills would be taking the safety of the GF symbol away. We still read every label carefully, but the certified GF symbol gives me some clarity and confidence that the product has been tested and is safe to eat. Don’t take that away from us. Find another way to market this, or better yet, CERTIFY this product line!
Would General Mills market a product that was “sugar friendly”, “egg friendly” or “peanut butter Friendly?”
Please help your customers out. An ingredient is either IN the product or It’s NOT!
When it comes to gluten – certify it is gluten free!
Life with Celiac disease is difficult enough without manufacturers promoting the term “gluten friendly”. This term has no legal definition and it can mean whatever anyone wants it to mean which only adds to the confusion that seems to surround gluten free products. If this product is gluten free then certify it and sell it that way and what happens after it leaves the manufacturer is no longer their problem. By not certifying it you’re allowing it to continue through the food supply with vague claims and leaving consumers to play Russian roulette with their health.
I know not to eat anything labeled gluten friendly. Others may not know the difference and serve food to me that is not safe for me to consume. Either serve certified gluten free or don’t.
General Mills doesn’t give a crap about people with celiac disease. We rely on the ‘GF’ to tell us a product is safe. Using ‘GF’ defined as the term ‘gluten friendly’ is a lazy way to protect themselves from liability while confusing the customer. Their ignorance about the gluten free market is only overshadowed by greed. What a terrible company. I can’t wait to see the ‘peanut friendly’ label on Honey Nut Cheerios!
Gluten Friendly doesn’t even make sense. Stop using confusing language. If it’s friendly to gluten, that means it has gluten. Why did this term even originate to express it is gluten free, or friendly to gluten free people. It’s either gluten free or it isn’t. Make up your mind.
This proposal is frightening. Those of us with Celiac have a hard enough time finding Celiac safe foods. Many people will be confused by the wording “Gluten Friendly ” and will purchase items believing they are safe. For those without symptoms, they will unknowingly be causing physical harm to themselves. this should not be allowed! Period!
Gluten friendly does not help those of us with Celiac disease. Gluten friendly only serves to obfuscate the difference between gluten free and low gluten. For GM to seek the potential use of these specific words gives rise to the genuine sincerity of the gluten FREE label on their remaining other products.
General Mills, please don’t make life any more difficult than it already is for those of us with Celiacs. Either stand behind the gluten free label or choose some other label such as ‘reduced gluten’ or ‘low gluten’ for your products that unable to be truly gluten free.
DO NOT OFFER THIS PRODUCT LINE. PERIOD!
There is no such thing as “gluten friendly” or being a little intolerant. Either you can eat gluten or you can’t. What’s even more disheartening is the audience you are targeting. Many times the elderly and sick people don’t have a voice of their own. You will be putting their lives in jeopardy. DO NOT PURSUE THIS ANY FURTHER!
No,no,no to this product! It’s hard enough to get institutions like restaurants, Hospitals, and care facilities to understand Gluten Free and what this means concerning cross contamination and how it can POISON us. Many will assume that this product is ok to serve to celiacs AND IT IS NOT. Please do not add to our frustration when we have to eat at these institutions. Listen to the “end users” please, meaning those of us who will get served this crap.
It is particularly galling that this is being proposed for the Convenience Stores and Food Service market. In the grocery store I can see the box and make an informed decision. I have taken responsibility for my health and learned to read between the lines on labels. The average food service worker does not have the training to understand the differences between GF (gluten friendly) and GF (gluten free). People in hospitals and nursing homes have to rely on kitchen staff to keep them safe and this would put them at serious risk.
This is misleading and potentially harmful advertising of foods that are not safe. For people with allergies or CD, and there are a lot of us, we cannot tolerate any gluten. And our elders or those too sick might mistakenly ear this instead of real gluten-free foods. So to try to cater to those who aren’t really gluten-free and often cheat in their diets is pointless. There is already tons of foods they can eat. How about instead you invest in making food safe for us?
GM there is nothing friendly about being rediculously allergic to wheat! The tiniest amounts render me I’ll for days. Please dont promote products that would risk a person’s health, without clear and consistent labeling. As a individual consumer I can decide what to purchase. But to promote these products to hospitals nursing homes restaurants etc is even worse as the organization is choosing for others. That’s very frightening!
Along time ago , I called GM and requested them to use the old Ralston Chex as A great product to give G F persons something safe to EAT. Well ….. wheat chex has a very small box now and look at the family size of the other rice and corn cereals. So…please stop playing with the gluten free make more money when you know some people just want to know what in the box,bag, or can (soup ) . Not that hard to be smart ! Please make you food safe & Thank You for you the your time .
The term gluten friendly is highly deceptive and confusing to the average person. It is an irrisponsible term and a dangerous lable. Those working in food service, nursing homes, hospitals, resturants, convience stores, have no education in the difference between gluten friendly and gluten free, it is generally seen and treated the same. Even the initials GF are the same and will be confused. Nobody working in those places is even going to know there is a difference much less figure it out. Marketing and labeling products as gluten friendly to vonerable populations that have to rely on the people serving them to understand what they are serving ( nursing homes, hospitals, resturants) make General Mills a danger. If Generals Mills wants to make a line of gluten free, celiac safe products, then that’s what they should do. Otherwise they need to just step away for safety sake.
What the heck does ‘Gluten Friendly’ mean? Is there some kind of FDA standard? NO. This will be extremely confusing to anyone who must maintain a gluten-free diet. Please do not make things worse than they are with the gluten-free label. As a dietitian, I would never suggest anyone try anything that professes to be ‘gluten-friendly’ Geesh, it’s always something with food marketing. Just NO!
Is this where you will be compiling responses for them? If so- I want General Mills to know that producing ‘gluten friendly’ food items actually helps no one and is a waste of precious resources. It is not a food people with celiac disease can eat. Is this food line supposed to cater to the gluten free fad dieters? That fad diet is causing such harm for the celiac community as it adds so much confusion- doubt- and disbelief in our disease being real- from doctors to chefs to even family members of those diagnosed! Is this product aimed for people who think they may be eating healthier? Is that really worth it? Who really wants to eat gluten free if it is not required for health reasons? And who are the people General Mills is aiming for to purchase these products? Seriously- I want to know. Please take this disease seriously, and either do it the best way- completely gluten free or not gluten free. The celiac community needs safe food to eat- not confusing, misleading labeling and attempts to gain a larger market share of people’s grocery money. If I eat gluten, I am sick for weeks- and have a horrible time with intestinal dysregulation, neurological effects, and all of my body is in pain for weeks. Would you want another human being suffering because you wanted to make a flashy product? I hope not- I really hope not.
Hippocrates wrote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” To the folks at General Mills: For those with Celiac Disease, food is the ONLY medicine. CD has over 200 symptoms, ranging from mild to debilitating–they are cumulative and, if the inflammatory cascade is aggravated by poorly labeled and contaminated foods, the insults to the immune system no doubt lead to additional disease burdens. The very idea of your marketing team exploring new ways to profit off a trend while putting our community at risk is unconscionable and tantamount to intentional injury. I sure hope you reconsider. An idea worthy of a company such as yours to explore is becoming the pioneers in “Celiac Safe” foods. Lead the way in differentiating between GF and “celiac Safe” by explaining the dangers of cross-contact, safe food handling and how to be sure ingredients in the products are manufactured and prepared in the safest manner possible. Educate food service folks where you have major contracts (hospitals, campuses, etc — basically your target market for this proposed line). Everyone thinks they provide safe GF options, but it only takes a few questions to reveal how sick our family members would become if they consumed foods prepared under the casual understanding of GF labeling like your proposed new product would perpetuate. Your company would have loyalty (if products followed suit) of a captive audience, and the gluten free trend followers would still have your products to consume. Manage the issue before it turns into a crisis. To be sure, the Celiac community’s lives depend on your getting it right rather than making it more dangerous out there. It would be great if your team took the time to truly understand Celiac Disease so they could be more mindful of the health issues this type of thinking could create. Thank you.
Gluten friendly is a term we loathe having to deal with in the restaurant side of things. We can barely eat out without checking, rechecking, and checking again that the items are gluten free. By offering a product in this type of setting termed gluten friendly you’re not helping prevent confusion or protect though with actual allergies to these products. You’re making it acceptable for people to be confused on what gluten friendly means. And by using the GF symbol creating confusion on an already established and accepted label. Not only that but gluten free is regulated by fda but gluten friendly is not. It’s an arbitrary term and honestly sounds like gluten is in the product. I can guarantee I wouldn’t eat anything containing the name gluten friendly. It’s a stupid cover your ass term and has no baring on those with allergies. It will also cause confusion within the industry because not everyone knows what gluten is. And thus there will be chefs or corporations marking this as gluten free when it won’t be. Not interested in seeing this product anywhere near food service. And especially in senior living facilities if there are celiac patients.
I was just made aware that you are planning on offering a new GF line of foods, except the GF doesn’t stand for Gluten Free but rather Gluten Friendly. As a mom of a daughter who has celiac disease, you have now successfully started a firestorm among the celiac population. We are furious as this is your way of capitalizing on the gluten free market! Pretty sure your “GF” on your packaging is IP Theft as GF has stood for gluten free for over a decade if not longer! The fact that your product ta could be sold to cafeterias (school, work, hospital), restaurants & other businesses with the assumption that they are buying gluten free products & then advertising them to consumers as gluten free is unethical! I encourage General Mills to reach out to the celiac community and educate themselves. It is already a socially isolating disease and now you are making management that more difficult. Those diagnosed with celiac can only tolerate up to one crumb of gluten before their body attacks itself and this could very well happen should you move forward on this line. Exposure to gluten long term has been shown to cause lymphoma, infertility, osteoporosis, additional autoimmune diseases, malnutrition, dental defects, poor growth, and the list goes on and on!
I was just made aware that you are planning on offering a new GF line of foods, except the GF doesn’t stand for “Gluten Free” as it has for over a decade; but rather “Gluten Friendly.” As a mom of a daughter who has celiac disease, you have now successfully started a firestorm among the celiac population.
Yes, we can avoid purchasing and consuming your products altogether; that’s the easier part. The most concerning part is the fact that these products are for food service—cafeterias (school, work, hospital), restaurants & other businesses use. Your “gluten friendly” product will no doubt be bought & advertised at these venues as Gluten Free and knowing that is unethical.
I encourage General Mills to reach out to the celiac community and educate themselves on Celiac Disease before considering putting this product line out to the public.
We all grew up eating General Mills products as kids. We’ve put trust in your company and it’s products over the years, but it has just come to my attention that you are planning on offering a new GF line of foods, except the GF doesn’t stand for “Gluten Free” as it has for over a decade; but rather “Gluten Friendly.” As a mom of a daughter who has celiac disease, you have now successfully started a firestorm among the celiac population. This disease has given my child obstacles that her peers take for granted. Spontaneity is virtually gone. We always have to research and have a plan B & plan C. It is part of the disease and we have accepted that, but now that you are throwing yet another obstacle at this population, that’s a whole different ballgame.
Yes, we can avoid purchasing and consuming your products altogether; that’s the easier part. The most concerning part is the fact that these products are being marketed for food service—cafeterias (school, work, hospital), restaurants & other businesses use. Your “gluten friendly” product will no doubt be bought & advertised at these venues as Gluten Free and knowing that is unethical. If someone with celiac disease consumes even one crumb of gluten, it sets off a chain reaction of destruction in the body. Long term exposure of gluten can lead to cancers such as lymphoma, infertility, osteoporosis, additional autoimmune diseases, malnutrition, growth problems, dental problem and the list goes on and on. This product will no doubt be a contributor.
I encourage General Mills to reach out to the celiac community and educate themselves on Celiac Disease before considering putting this product line out to the public.
We all grew up eating General Mills products as kids. We’ve put trust in your company and it’s products over the years, but it has just come to my attention that you are planning on offering a new GF line of foods, except the GF doesn’t stand for “Gluten Free” as it has for over a decade; but rather “Gluten Friendly.” I am 15 and I have celiac disease. This disease has given my family and I obstacles that my friends take for granted. Spontaneity is virtually gone. My parents and I always have to research and have a plan B & plan C. It is part of the disease and we have accepted that, but now that you are throwing yet another obstacle at this population, that’s a whole different ballgame. I did not want this disease, but I have accepted it with grace.
Yes, my family can avoid purchasing and consuming your products altogether; that’s the easier part. The most concerning part is the fact that these products are being marketed for food service—cafeterias (school, work, hospital), restaurants & other businesses use. Your “gluten friendly” product will no doubt be bought & advertised at these venues as Gluten Free and knowing that is unethical.
When I consume even one crumb of gluten, it sets off a chain reaction of destruction in my body. I strictly adhere to the gluten free diet because long-term exposure of gluten can lead to cancers such as lymphoma, infertility, osteoporosis, additional autoimmune diseases, malnutrition, growth problems, dental problem and the list goes on and on. This product will no doubt be a contributor to these diseases if someone with celiac unknowingly consumes them due to labeling.
I encourage General Mills to reach out to the celiac community and educate themselves on Celiac Disease before considering putting this product line out to the public.
The term “gluten friendly” is at best insensitive towards those who have to avoid gluten for medical reasons and at worst shows a blatant disregard for the well-being of your customers. I was disgusted when General Mills first began advertising for gluten free Cheerios with an ad about the CEO’s daughter(?), who has celiac disease, and how they wanted to make Cheerios gluten free for her and others like her. I have celiac disease, and I can say from personal experience that Cheerios are not safe for those of us with this medical condition. This is something that has been brought to the attention of General Mills, but the boxes continue to be labeled gluten free. Seeing this new idea for a gluten friendly line just reinforces my negative opinion of General Mills. A family member of someone with celiac disease should understand there’s no such thing as gluten friendly; gluten is never friendly to anyone who reacts to it. This new line further demonstrates General Mills only cares about money. Don’t try to sell it as doing a kindness to people with a medical need to eat gluten free food. This is just another company jumping on the fad diet bandwagon, which only hurts those who need truly gluten free food. This diminishes the seriousness of a medical diet, putting the health of thousands if not millions of people at risk.
This company is showing that they are not concerned with getting more Gluten Free products out to people that need safe products to remain healthy. They are showing that they will stoop to any level to trick the public so that the almighty dollars keep rolling in.
I was excited that you were reaching out to provide safe and healthy products to a customer base that does need options. After seeing that you have bastardized a Safety Symbol for people that rely on the symbols to only purchase safe products, I am disgusted at the level you would go.
General Mills,
Please make all the new items certified gluten free so that anyone concerned with gluten can enjoy them with confidence.
Even though myself and my son are gluten sensitive, my daughter has celiac so our entire family is only consuming certified gluten free foods.
The term “gluten friendly” means – I’m not buying.
At a time when those with Celiac disease and their caregivers are attempting to make progress with educating others, especially those in the food service industry, the term “gluten friendly” is a giant step backwards. Distributing this product in any capacity would be detrimental. If there was a possibility of these products containing arsenic would they be called arsenic friendly? To someone with Celiac, same thing.
I whole heartedly endorse the comments made by others in stating that, not only is this proposed product line a disservice to the Celiac and wheat intolerant communities, it’s a dangerous idea for the consumer (commercial entities) and potentially your company. Added to that concern, I would add that by offering gluten friendly products for commercial use really blurs the lines for those companies’ employees… many of whom are not sufficiently trained regarding gluten free products or cross contamination already. How are managers/ceos to understand the specific and significant difference between gluten friendly and gluten free? The fact of the matter is they won’t. And as they won’t see the necessity of extended training for said employees, people who MUST follow a completely gluten free diet will become sick. It’s only a matter of time before someone who has been affected will tire of it shoddy and lazy practice…and start litigation.
Marketing these products for restaurants means more uneducated staff and managers will promote these products as gluten free. This is deceptive and dishonest. If they want to make a true gluten FREE product, I’d love to try them. Gluten Friendly…I’m good for boycotting all of their products as this is dishonest and just wrong. If they can’t do it right, get out of the market.
The general population tends to believe gluten-free is a lifestyle choice. Hollywood elite popularized gluten-free as a choice. The reality for me, as a celiac, is a strict gluten-free diet. Otherwise, I find myself in excruciating pain with a range of debilitating symptoms. This doesn’t begin to describe the internal damage from gluten or the high risk of cancer as a celiac. This food line could be served to me as gluten-free when it is not, resulting in severe illness to me and others with celiac. Managing this disease in a world where misinformation leads to the perception that I am choosing to be a fad dieter will become even more complicated with this product line. Please re-consider the harm this will cause for those who suffer from a life-long disease. I don’t see you offering a diabetic-friendly line with half the sugar, a heart-friendly line, a cancer friendly line, an HIV friendly line so why would you offer a gluten-free line? I am hoping you don’t realize that you are impacting someone’s health and thus their life. Please reconsider this and consider it for what it is- a detriment to the health of others and a liability for your company.
As a mother & a wife who had taken care of both my daughter and my husband after they have been glutened, through direct ingestion of something they were given in error by a food handler, and even through cross contamination- I urge you to put a stop to this concept. Throw it into the – we are trying, but refute to produce products that will make people gravely ill bucket.
Consider the worst stomach flu you’ve ever had, being sick for up to 24 hours, and taking days to recover. That is what happens to both of them with even traces of gluten. Celiac is an auto immune disease which means all people who suffer have slightly different responses as their bodies fight against the invading gluten.
Eating out is always a challenge. My daughter, in particular, is often stressed about food when we travel. Gluten friendly- isn’t. Period. Gluten free means it’s been tested, it’s free from cross contamination, etc. selling a product line like this to the food service industry is a recipe for people with Celiac to get glutened by well intentioned food service companies.
If you wouldn’t put yourself or your loved ones at risk, please don’t put mine at risk!
Gluten FRIENDLY. Ugh!!! Ridiculous. Sad AND lame. All gluten or 100% certified gf. Don’t even bother with hluten friendly.
1. Contact celiac.org for requirements to make absolutely sure your products are certified gluten free and will always continue to be, while you produce them.
2. DO NOT process these products in a facility that processes products that contain wheat ingredients of any sort. Glutens are airborne, I.e., flours. Be diligent that there is no cross contamination!
If you don’t follow these standards then you’re messing with Celiacs/gluten intolerant people, who can and will become very ill eating your products. Did you know a crumb of food containing gluten can make a celiac seriously ill?
I hope to GOD you’re not creating these products to tap into the “celiac” community and have no consciousness about gluten allergies. If you have ever had an allergy, you will understand how serious “celiac-friendly” bogus labeling can be. What do you deem celiac-friendly anyway?
If you do produce these products and intentionally mis-label and/or mis-inform the celiac community AND we all purchase and consume them, I’d be happy to send my sick family over to your houses for a few weeks to take over your bathrooms, couches, etc., while they try to recover from your blatant mis-representation of your products. IF you don’t follow the strict standards for certified gluten free products, I’m sure you’re going to hear about it! This is serious stuff. Please understand this.
General Mills. PLEASE STOP THIS INSANITY. I grew up loving all your products. I tried your gluten free stuff when I was first diagnosed and learning about this 14 years ago. I could not figure out why I was not getting better. It’s because I believed your products were actually gluten free. They are not safe for anyone with celiac disease or having to go gluten free for health reasons. Please if you are going to use the term gluten free make sure it’s safe for those of us who have celiac disease. It you use gluten friendly you will just hurt everyone of us more then we already are. It makes everyone look at celiac disease like we can have gluten so we get poisoned by other manufacturers as well as restaurants and others who try to cook for us. You are doing us a huge disservice and will hurt so many people with this kind of product and attitude toward it. Living with celiac disease is already very difficult we have to read and reread every single label we cant trust anything anymore so we have to investigate ourselves. It’s now to the point I worry eating most anything prepackaged labeled gluten free. I also can’t trust 99% of restaurants as they don’t understand gluten free as well for people with celiac disease. It is not a term people should play around with. Your cheerios and those kind of products already do enough damage but luckily we have people like glutenfreewatchdog looking out and helping us fight for what is right. Please think of it if you did this with peanuts. Some people end up in the ER, I suffer horrible consequences if I eat any of your gluten removed as it is said, or gluten free cereals, it takes months to get feeling normal enough to want to do anything or eat again. Please take this seriously and learn what celiac disease is and what cross contamination is and what it can do to us. I know if you would do it right have it certified, and follow the rules for it you would gain a lot more business. I know it may take a bit to prove to me it’s safe but if we can get to that point where you take it as seriously as we do then people would come around and start trusting and buying your products even if it costs a little more to make them safe. Gluten shortens lifespans for those of us with celiac disease as well as cause horrible health problems. Please take it as seriously as if you had a small child with celiac disease please learn all you can about it before you make products that harm people. Thank you for your time.
Please do not create so called gluten friendly products!!! It is estimated that Approximately 3 million Americans have celiac disease, and 97% are undiagnosed. Please do not add to the confusion and ignorance around this disease. Instead, why not create certified gluten free products that everyone can eat.
Gluten-friendly means nothing. It’s a way to protect them from lawsuits if their stuff isn’t safe. If it isn’t gluten-free, I won’t ever touch it. Gluten-free or stay out of the game. My safety is worth them going the extra mile or staying out of the game.
“Gluten-friendly”, particularly in a context where it’s being sold to distributors and then could be potentially mislabelled and sold as truly gluten-free, is not only a term with no meaning, it is dangerous to those of us that need to eat gluten free for a true autoimmune disorder. Nothing about eating gluten free is inherently healthy – a gluten free doughnut is just as bad for you as a gluten-filled doughnut. Marketing products as “gluten-friendly” is a sad attempt to jump on a trendy bandwagon without actually helping people who could benefit from truly gluten-free products. Please reconsider this brand decision.
Since they wouldn’t be offered in a retail setting, I am concerned most for those who live in senior homes, and hospitals, who require a medically gluten free diet. These products will likely be used as a gluten free alternative, which will only make the residents ill. This is predatory behaviour, on some of the most vulnerable in our society.
I’m Celiac — would never buy this. I currently don’t trust GM products due to the cereal controversy, I don’t think they know how to do it correctly.
I really, really miss Pillsbury biscuits. I would LOVE to have frozen, truly gluten free (certified) Pillsbury biscuits. (Or in the can!!) It’s silly to make something else gluten “friendly” like Cheerios, when everyone knows they’re not truly gluten free. Please consider doing this, and doing it right!
If they invest in one GF facility including the supply chain—for this product they’d have a corner on the market for ALL the products in the future they can sell. This autoimmune disease isn’t going away anytime soon and many more people are diagnosed every day! It’s not a fad & it takes careful control from farms to tables. Please let them know it’s not just the ingredients that count.
Backlash WILL occur if people get sick off their lipstick on a pig products. Eventually the GF fad will fade & they’ll be stuck with Celiac patients who have turned against them for faking it with gluten “friendly”. They can’t take the easy way out of this! But they can cash in doing it the right way!!!
Gluten friendly is fine for people doing it for diet/personal reasons- not good for those of us with celiac- still needs to be CERTIFIED Gluten Free.
If there is one thing I have learned since my Celiac diagnosis, it is that eating gluten free and Celiac safe is confusing! In conversations with others, online support groups, etc. there is so much conflicting information and strange voluntary statements that muddy the water. As a result, we have high numbers of people who never completely heal their bodies, despite their personal best efforts. GF is synonymous with “gluten free” – meaning free of gluten at least to the current standards set by the government. Adding “GF” to a product that is not gluten free and does not meet the standards for safety serves to only further confuse the public. People’s health and longevity depend on their choosing safe foods! I can easily see how a well-intentioned parent could look at your proposed labeling and think it was safe and cause severe harm to the child. Celiac disease causes malnutrition. We starve to death even though we are eating food because our damaged villi can’t absorb nutrients. Many have no outward symptoms. Do not be the reason finding Celiac safe food becomes more difficult for those whose life depends on it. As a major corporation, you should be spearheading change and being the example for others to follow. You have the opportunity to be better. Take it!
Dear GM:
If you are using naturally gluten-FREE ingredients, just do the testing! Get certified, use gluten-FREE on your label and keep your products FDA compliant and Celiac safe. If Pillsbury and Krusteaz can do it and still be affordable while profiting big, so can you! But if you don’t, keep this in mind: 1 in 3 Celiac patients experience symptoms such as seizures, migraine, neuropathy, and temporary or even permanent paralysis, among a plethora of other neurological symptoms. These symptoms can devastate people, especially working women, and perpetuate a debilitating cycle of poverty and medical debt. It is purely unethical to toy with that by using a non-standard BS term like gluten-friendly and providing it to foodservice! Imagine being the company responsible for the death or extreme injury of a child in a hospital. Now throw your gluten-friendly ideas in an incinerator and start over.
My main concern with this concept is how easy it will be for someone who means well to accidentally gluten my celiac daughter. I’m worried grandparents and friends might grab a box of “gluten friendly” brownies off the shelf and make them for her because they thought they were celiac safe.
If General Mills makes more actually gluten-free food available through their restaurant food supply chain, that would be a welcome advance in the quality and variety of food available, as this supply chain often serves institutionalized populations where gluten-free food can be difficult to find, of poor quality and taste, and of limited variety. However, it serves no one to create nominally gluten-free, marketed as “gluten-friendly”, but not celiac-safe, products. This will only obfuscate the real issues around gluten-free diets, namely that certain populations (celiac disease, those allergic to wheat, rye, and/or barley, those for whom gluten is a trigger in other intestinal diseases like Crohn’s or IBS) absolutely must, to preserve their health and livelihoods, avoid gluten or the grains which contain it. I, for one, hope that GM does pursue this product line as long as they produce actually gluten-free, certified safe, foods.
This is a recipe for disaster! For those of us who can not eat any gluten, is down right dangerous! We get poisoned with gluten contamination regularly by uninformed or uncaring servers/cooks at restaurants. That means vomiting, diarrhea, and damage to our intestines!!! This product gives the ILLUSION of safety when it is NOT! DO NOT market this product line! Do it right or not at all! NO ONE NEEDS GLUTEN-FRIENDLY!! WE NEED GLUTEN-FREE!! Would you market PEANUT FRIENDLY? No you wouldn’t.
Gluten friendly what a joke obviously you have no clue about those of us with Celiac disease we can only eat Gluten Free — Done with all of your products 😡
If these products are gluten free, label them as gluten free. Gluten friendly means could have gluten. This could potentially cause problems for Celiac Disease people in hospitals or assisted living facilities and nursing homes. If you are going to make gluten free products go all the way, not half way there.
As someone with celiac disease the most difficult thing to do is to go out to eat and we fear having to be hospitalized. Safe food is the only thing that will ensure I don’t get sick, that my body will not attack my small intestines even if I don’t get debilitatingly sick. Eating out is the most common social gathering, oten times it is necessary because eating safely at home is not possible. Gluten friendly labeling is the worst, it says we did not make certain the ingredients or machinery used to process this product are completely safe for someone with celiacs, because if they buy this product that’s a bonus for us. It says we really don’t believe you or care about your health to make sure you’re safe. It says you didn’t really make an effort to ensure true safety. If your gluten friendly product is given as an option to restaurant owners they will assume, in ignorance, that it is a safe gluten free option to add to their menus and mark the menu gf. They will assume safety especially coming from a company as respected as General Mills. Promoting the Gluten Friendly labeling opens the way to allow even more hidden danger to those of us with celiac disease. How long will it be until Gluten Friendly will be reduced to GF and be completely misleading, deceitful. I urge, no beg you, please do not take the easy way out, to reach a demographic of people who are just reducing gluten. Support those of us with a disease that is only put into remission by eliminating gluten completely. By making the effort to maintain the integrity of Gluten FREE labeling you will promote a truly safe standard of labeling.
I don’t understand how they think gluten can be friendly to us IN ANY WAY! It is a poison for those with celiac. It is hard enough for the general public to understand what gluten FREE means; this will just cause more confusion– and more damage to our bodies that are fighting this DISEASE every day. Shame on you General Mills!
“Gluten Friendly” would indicate one is being friendly TOWARDS Gluten, which is the exact opposite of what anyone medically requiring a gluten free diet in order to live a healthy and safe life needs. By them adding a GF label to their products they are purposefully being misleading, taking advantage of GF meaning Gluten Free and potentially going to medically harm thousands upon thousands of people.
Considering there are a lot of children (my 11 year old daughter) trying hard to learn how to be safe and advocate for themselves, there are a lot of people new to the Gluten Free lifestyle and we are already behind the eight ball from the many companies not labelling or mislabelling their products to the pharmaceutical companies that aren’t required (as yet) to label whether there’s gluten in their products, to then have a company that KNOWS all this and STILL plans to go ahead with such misleading marketing is beyond abhorrent. I honestly feel this so underhanded, it’s manipulative, to the point of being medically criminal.
I personally will NEVER buy another product from this company again, they are irresponsible and unashamed by their own negligent actions. SHAME ON YOU!
This is irresponsible. I expect better from one of the world’s largest food companies. For celiacs it’s hard enough as it is; I’d like to see General Mills’ marketing power used for something good rather than something that will just make things worse for us.
Gluten-friendly is a meaningless word. Family-friendly means an event is suitable for families. So what does gluten-friendly even mean? Does it have gluten? Does it go well with gluten? GF NEEDS to mean gluten-free and ONLY gluten-free.
When I see a restaurant with gluten-friendly options, I know they are trying to profit on the gluten-free fad but are too lazy to make it safe enough to qualify for the regulated term of gluten-free. If there was one phrase that celiacs need purged, it’s gluten-friendly. It’s hard enough to be taken seriously as a celiac. We don’t need someone making light of gluten with a friendly term. Food is our only medicine. We need you to respect how hard it is for us to eat safely in this country. We can’t get mandatory labeling accomplished for gluten. Please, do not make this more complicated.
The fact that it’s will be sold to hospitals, senior living homes etc makes this product SO dangerous. The celiac community already has to protect themselves from such institutional kitchens because most workers do not understand celiac safe handling. It would be an easy mistake for them to make to give a biscuit to a patient or resident thinking gluten firiendly and gluten free are the same. Less than a crumb makes is extremely sick. If GM doesn’t want to ensure that we are safe then just stick to the gluten containing products only. Making a certain to make us ill and possibly get servers to us unknowingly is NOT helpful. A product like this given to a celiac in a hospital in Ana already frail consisting could DIE eating this product. If they continue with this line – I hope they have some damn good negligent injury attorneys because celiacs WILL suffer from this horrendously unethical “concept”
Comment from the Celiac Community Foundation of Northern California:
General Mills should not proceed with the proposed “Gluten Friendly” / “GF” labeling on its food service product line. Gluten friendly is an undefined and nonsensical term used by restaurants that wish to capitalize on the gluten-free trend without making the effort to avoid cross contact.
The term gluten-friendly has no place on packaged products, retail or wholesale. Until now, this unwelcome term has only been used in restaurants and other food service environments that have a high risk of uncontrolled cross contact. As packaged products are made in controlled environments, the use of a vague and undefined labeling term like “gluten friendly” is wholly inappropriate.
Considering ongoing concerns about gluten-free Cheerios manufacturing and testing protocols, as well as the 2015 recall of 1.8 million Cheerios boxes for wheat contamination, General Mills should be considering ways to better serve its gluten-free customers.
Instead, the ill-considered labeling on this proposed product line is tone deaf and an affront to celiac advocacy and consumers who are on a medically prescribed gluten-free diet.
In developing and providing guidance for its 2013 gluten-free labeling rule, the FDA did not intend a two-tier system of gluten-free and gluten-friendly. The General Mills proposed labeling skirts and possibly violates the spirit if not the letter of the rule, particularly by using the abbreviation “GF” on a product that is not also labeled gluten-free. “GF” as a stand-alone abbreviation or as part of a certification symbol is widely understood to stand for the term gluten-free. Therefore, its use in this context would be misleading.
The purpose and intention behind the proposed product line is unclear. If the intention is to provide a product that matches the “gluten friendly” desingation used by some restaurants and food service facilities, it is a shortsighted marketing plan. Product manufacturers should not be in the business of monetizing unsafe practices that imperil public health. As a multinational corporation with over $16 billion in 2019 revenue, General Mills is in a position to have a positive impact on gluten-free food preparation and labeling in food service environments. It should be leading the way, not catering to lowest industry practices.
How the food sold in a food service environment is prepared and labeled, and whether it meets the federal definition of gluten-free, is the responsibility of the food service facility. Providing properly manufactured and labeled gluten-free products to food service clients and educating them about safe preparation practices is the way to best serve gluten-free consumers and promote public health.
Thank you for reconsidering this proposed labeling approach.
Dear General Mills,
Please do not do this. Label reading is already inconvenient. Getting people to understand that this disease is real and that we aren’t making up how terrible we feel is already a daily battle. Its difficult to make sure now that I am safe when I order food, this food line would make it worse. Those without illness to gluten already have no concept of how to keep celiac affected people safe. You will endanger the wellbeing of so many just to cash in on the illness. Its appalling.
Terms like “gluten friendly” are extremely dangerous for people with celiac disease, especially when this product line is being directed at hospitals, restaurants, etc. It causes confusion for many underinformed people who are genuinely trying to cater to various dietary needs and can lead to dangerous mistakes.
There is already a lot of misinformation surrounding gluten free needs and cross contamination, please do not add to it by further muddying the waters with terms like “gluten friendly.” If you genuinely want to offer items to people who cannot consume gluten, do it right. Take the proper steps to prevent cross contamination and get certified, then you can call it “gluten free.” Celiacs everywhere will thank you for it and purchase your products, and everyone you might have sold to with “gluten friendly” will still purchase them too.
Please don’t exploit a fad diet while endangering people with serious medical needs.
How unbelievably misconstrued ! Why go to this extent and still be a product we CAN NOT eat????
Any gluten tears our system to shreds.
Why, why, why?
Gluten free is what we need!
Offering gluten friendly products to food service where training and knowledge is already lacking is a disservice to any community, especially to those in hospitals and nursing homes where patients have to fight and advocate for themselves when they shouldn’t have to because celiac disease is just that, a disease. This is not a fad for me, this is reality. I have spent time in the hospital for this very disease only to be exposed to gluten because the hospital kitchen staff, and even nurses are not well trained to adequately care for someone with celiac. To put a “gluten friendly” product with my “gluten free” meal only perpetuates the confusion and lack of education where it is needed most. As a consumer it’s up to me to read food labels and make decisions about what I consume. But when you’re placing that in the hands of food service that is taken from me when it should be. Please reconsider this product line. Certified Gluten Free products gain your company trust from a community that will support you while also catering to “fad dieters”. Your company is large enough to afford the label…
This is ridiculous General Mills. You are putting peoples lives and health on the line. DO NOT LABEL FOOD GLUTEN FRIENDLY. That is not a thing. Either get your food certificates as gluten free or don’t. But don’t add confusion to an already hard to navigate world for those with celiac. This is a ridiculous way for you to try and make money off of an illness instead of doing it the proper way. It’s sickening that you think this okay.
Please reconsider producing anything with a Gluten Friendly designation. There is already so much confusion around what makes something Gluten Free, and this will only further the problems for people living with celiac. Having items like this made available in a hospital setting is even more concerning. I recently took my celiac daughter for some testing that required fasting. She couldn’t be released until she ate something but the only items they had on hand contained gluten. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of challenges we face daily. Fortunately, I anticipated it and packed her own food. Imagine if they had offered up one of your proposed products as something safe for her and she left the hospital sicker than when she arrived. Please remember your customers are human beings and take into account their health and well-being. Replace the term gluten friendly with something that applies to another serious food issue (e.g. low peanut, almost no dairy, some soy) and perhaps you’ll realize the silliness of this choice.
This is very irresponsible of General Mills. Restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. will think this is safe for those with celiac disease. It is not. It is hard enough to safely eat outside my house. This just muddies the waters more. Please do not create this product.
While we would love to have more gluten feee choices provided by General Mills, our children have celiac disease so it’s critical that as parents we feed them truly gluten free food. Just as companies do not label things ‘Nut Friendly’ for those with nut allergies, a product should not be labeled ‘Gluten Friendly’ for those that have serious health consequences from eating gluten. A product shouldn’t even be labeled gluten free unless it truly is gluten free…and protocols are in place and followed to keep it that way. I believe that General Mills has an economic opportunity here to be a part of the truly gluten free sector, but if they don’t do it right people will get sick. Some day there will be lawsuits over mislabeling and ingredients that make people ill.
Consideration of GLUTEN FREE things is highly appreciated and I have to say…I would LOVE a good frozen “take and bake” biscuit option. As a consumer…it would be much harder to trust the truthfulness of it coming from a food prep situation. (I RARELY believe a caterer or hotel when they say a bread product is GF). And yes, the “gluten friendly” term is a cop out. It is actually the opposite of what we need – the product would need to be gluten FREE friendly. Don’t use the term, but do go so far as to have an actually GLUTEN FREE product labeled (per FDA guidelines) and serve your customers who need it, plus their friends and family who eat with them.
I can only imagine the pain and horror of being in the hospital, rehab facility or nursing home and losing all control of my innards due to someone’s joke at our expense by marketing “gluten FRIENDLY” foods that are in no way GLUTEN FREE, so unsuitable for those with Celiac Disease. Shame on you, General Mills!
As a Celiac I do my research before trusting any restaurant with my health, but what you’re proposing is just wrong.
General Mills- PLEASE DO NOT release a line that is “gluten friendly” it is just confusing and unhelpful to everyone. My daughter has celiac disease and ends up hospitalized if she has gluten. Her friends moms, schools, camps try to be helpful and would read this label of “gluten friendly” and feed it to her not understanding that you do not check for cross contamination. It makes me want to NEVER buy ANY food from General Mills EVER. The Cheerios debacle caused so much confusion amongst her grandparents and friends trying to feed it to her After she got sick from the cross contaminated oats that I have just told people to stay away from General Mills. Please don’t make this situation worse!
This is a very scary thing..Thinking that these items might be for sale for larger organizations. So say a hospital buys these gluten friendly foods, they assume they mean gluten free, they end of serving them to patients (or anyone in any situation really) and people get sick. General Mills needs to stay out of the Gluten Free Game if they are not going to take the necessary steps to ensure that people with CD do not get sick. Shared lines, shared facility, gluten friendly…none of those things do anything to help the large population of people that have CD. Do it right General Mills, set a high standard or don’t do it at all please.
As much as I want gf biscuits that come with ease of use, I would personally never trust anything labeled gluten friendly for my daughter with CD.
To be blunt, this is dangerous for those of us living with celiac disease. This product will be sold in a manner where we are unable to review the label and see the contamination warning to know that it is unsafe for our consumption. If these products find there way onto gluten free menus (and you know they will!) celiacs WILL get sick because this product is not made safely. What is the point? General Mills is a huge company. It has the ability and resources to do this correctly. If you want to make gluten FREE products — do it! Make them certified gluten free! And make them available for commercial use. Because what the ever growing celiac and gluten intolerant community needs is more safe options, not more companies taking unsafe shortcuts and making us sick! Do this the correct way or don’t do it at all.
Please make these items gluten-free, not gluten-friendly. And even though there’s a 20 ppm standard for gluten-free, “no detectable gluten” is better by far. Be heroes of the Celiac community and do this the right way! I particularly worry about people in senior living facilities being fed a low dose of gluten on a daily basis.
As a family with a Celiac daughter, we will not buy “gluten friendly” items. We need the security of k owing she will not be consuming gluten. Not just leave it as a guessing game.
No.
Let me say that again, more clearly: NO.
It worries me that these products could be served to children at schools, or patients at hospitals, or seniors at living centers. The food handlers might not be aware of the ins and outs of CD and might consider these safe – inadvertently hurting many Celiacs.
Very simply – “gluten friendly” means you intend to cash in on a diet fad. It shows you don’t actually care about those who are gluten FREE by medical necessity, not choice.
Do better.
My biggest concern with this is that the products would be sold and marketed to food service companies who would then make the food and possibly feed these items as “Gluten Free” meals to patients in Assisted Living or Hospital settings. When I’m shopping at the store, I read labels and make sure things are safe for me. When I’m in the hospital, I have little choice but to trust the foodservice providers that my food is safe. This is a slippery slope. I recommend they reconsider and name this line something different. Possibly Reduced Gluten. Even making the word “Gluten” second in whatever phrase they choose would be helpful and more safe for those of us that could inadvertently get exposed to this food at some point. If this product line makes it to market as it is now, it would make eating out even more dangerous than it already is for those with Celiac Disease.
Gluten is poison to the bodies of those with Celiac. To say that products are “gluten friendly” is the same as saying “poison friendly” for our community. General Mills should absolutely not move forward with these products. What a horrendous attempt to make money!
I refuse to make food and allergen labeling more complicated than it already is. GF symbol is recognized as “gluten free” something that for someone with celiac disease is vital. The only treatment for people with celiac disease is to have a gluten free “GF” diet. How are we supposed to make sure we follow that treatment with miss-leading symbols and labels? This is a very serious issue. I hope you take it as seriously as it is and remove that from your products. We are trying to improve the way we label food, not to go back and get worse!!!!
I am very concerned about products marked “gluten friendly.” As a parent of a tween with Celiac Disease, I am not always with my child to read labels for him (when he’s at school, at friend’s house, or just out and about). My concern is that he, or a parent at a house he is visiting, will think these safe when THEY ARE IN NO WAY SAFE for those who need to eat a gluten free diet. Please do not use “gluten” as a marketing issue unless you are willing to ensure your products are safe!!!
I spent 4 days intubated, on life support, because of this nasty, ugly disease called Celiac. I am angry that some in the food industry think, MY DISEASE, is a effing joke. General Mills, don’t be a bully, show some integrity! Please, make your labeling clear and honest so people don’t get sick.
Gluten friendly is such a misleading and backwards term. What I need as a person with celiac is safe Gluten Free food.. not food with tricky labels that restaurants are going to confuse even further. “Gluten friendly” is a term that needs to be eradicated. Certified Gluten Free or stay out of the market. Can we talk about that Rice Crispies debacle?
Calm down everyone. Obviously gluten friendly is a bad choice of words. It’s a mock up, probably some marketing person threw it together and didn’t realize the glaring mistake. Most “normal people” get stuff like this wrong by mistake. I’m not sure the internet equivalent of screaming in their faces is the best response. Now if they refuse to change “gluten friendly” to something else, fair enough.
I don’t care that much what they call it, even if it sounds stupid and is basically the opposite of what they intended. I care about whether they will be safe?
I do know one thing that will prevent companies from trying to offer safe gluten free products to people like us: Getting attacked by crazy celiac twitter mobs over a simple mistake.
Hi David, General Mills is not trying to offer these products as “safe” for folks with celiac disease. This is the reason why the proposed terminology is gluten friendly. The Gluten Free Watchdog community isn’t a “crazy celiac twitter mob.” Rather this is a group of thoughtful folks who are trying to prevent packaged food products from being labeled gluten friendly that are intended for use by hospitals and restaurants (and could very well end up being served to folks with celiac disease). The time to make our voices heard is now not AFTER General Mills decides to go forward with this gluten friendly product line.
The products won’t be safe for people with celiac. They are intended for people who don’t worry about cross contamination. But it will confuse a whole lot of people in hospitals and senior citizen housing where they will be used. This is the time to scream. Once it goes into production it will be a lot more difficult to undo it. And the messages will go to them only and to subscribers of GFW; not to the internet at large.
This is not a simple mistake. If we do not care and express our concerns, nobody will do that for us!!! It is better now than when that term is out there and other companies start using it. Then it will be harder to go back. We are working hard to improve labeling in products. We do not want to go back. They need to hear us!
Wait – is this Gluten Free Friendly, or Gluten Friendly? GFF or GF? But doesn’t GF mean Gluten Free? What do you mean by ‘Friendly’? Is it ‘Friendly’ to take the chance of a hospitalized child eating your so called ‘GF’ food and end up vomiting for two hours like my daughter would, were she to eat a food that has more than 20ppm gluten? You are setting yourself up for a lawsuit. If my daughter vomited for 2 hours in a hospital because they served her what they or she thought was gluten free food, we would sue them and they would sue you. Worse yet – you could end up killing an already fragile hospitalized person if someone thought your GF food was gluten free. You really want to take a chance with confusing hospitalized people and senior citizens and the people who serve them?
General Mills is deteriorating the public’s perception of the severity of my disease. I have to trust and depend on other people daily to ensure my safety, and their labeling is sowing confusion. I am appalled.
Gluten Friendly is an absolutely DANGEROUS, make believe term that has no place on food labeling anywhere but especially on food provided to institutions. Food is either gluten free or it is not! Stop putting profits over our health. It is hard enough to avoid accidental gluten ingestion without General Mills irresponsibly tossing this confusing and dangerous line into the mix. I already fear about what food I will be fed if hospitalized. Just for perspective, do you think a “peanut friendly” line would be a good idea and just hope people with allergies don’t eat it by mistake? Stop playing dangerous games with food labels and our health!
I see this as a way to get around having their products GF tested. Which is underhanded and ignorant, to say the least. This is a multiBILLION dollar company that should get off its butt and make a dedicated factory if they are going to hone in on the GF industry. Do the right thing and do this right. People would love to have Pilsbury biscuits that are GF if it’s done properly. Care about your customers!
This General Mills product and how they are marketing it is extremely concerning to me as a person with Celiac Disease. The lack of understanding of the seriousness of Celiac Disease being demonstrated by General Mills is causing me to now question whether or not I want to continue purchasing any of their products. Marketing and subsequently selling this new “gluten friendly” product to the food service industry is extremely dangerous – restaurants will erroneously market these items as “gluten free” and will put the lives of thousands of restaurant patrons in danger across the country. General Mills, I urge you to reconsider.
Gluten friendly literally means friendly to gluten. All of General Mills products are already friendly to gluten-eaters. It sounds like GM wants to cater to the people who follow the fad, rather than the people with a medical need.
We want gluten free items. We want to know that what we are offered in a restaurant or hospital is free of gluten. We want to know that we can trust products not to make us sick.
Using GF on a product and having it mean something besides “gluten free” is confusing, especially for buyers who don’t have Celiac or gluten sensitivity themselves, and don’t know that gluten-friendly and gluten-free are literally opposites.
We know that the people who eat gluten free because of a fad will still eat the products if they are safe for Celiacs, but the other way around won’t work.
If these proposed products contain “no gluten ingredients”, why can’t you, General Mills, just test them so they potentially can be labeled gluten free? We know you have the ability to do this. I am totally against use of the abbreviation “GF” on “gluten friendly” products as that abbreviation is generally understood to be an abbreviation for “gluten free”. Your plans to use this abbreviation are inappropriate and seek to mislead people. Marketing “gluten friendly” products to public food service establishments is dangerous for diners at these establishments, as they are likely to be interpreted as gluten free products and potentially fed to people who don’t have access to the label. My celiac daughter was served gluten in a hospital and fortunately we caught it before she ate it. I can see many children with celiac in daycares and college students with celiac eating in already sketchy dining halls getting sick from “gluten friendly” products, because they either can’t read, don’t have access to the labeling or are assured by employees that the product is “GF”.
Horrendous example of poison, packaged with an obfuscating enticement. Should be illegal for companies like General Mills to even produce “pseudo-foods,” that are deleterious to human health, let alone then try to market them by slipping them by less savvy consumers, purely to make a buck.
Unfortunately, it’s not surprising; not the first time there’s been reason to avoid General Mills products. To know they’re considering yet another unhealthy marketing campaign is still sickening, proof that General Mills is just another shameful food industry company that puts profits ahead of consumer health.
As the mom of two celiac teens, I have no idea what “gluten friendly” actually means. Grammatically, it should mean that it contains gluten. Otherwise it would be gluten-free friendly, which still isn’t very concise. To avoid serious auto-immune attacks on my kids’ bodies, we need precise labeling. Is this “Gluten Free” or is it not? Is it free of cross-contamination risks from other products made on the same equipment or in the same facility? This is extremely lazy labeling.
Dear General Mills,
I am a gastroenterologist and treat patients with celiac disease. I am concerned about the proposal for a “gluten-friendly” line of products from General Mills and urge you to reconsider developing or launching these products. The term “gluten-friendly” will be confusing to consumers, those involved in food preparation, as well as healthcare providers.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease triggered by the ingestion of gluten. The only treatment for celiac disease is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet. There are no medications to treat celiac disease. It is vital for people with individuals to have a gluten-free diet. There have been recalls and labeling issues with other products not adhering to the FDA final rule on gluten-free labeling. The term gluten-friendly is not a defined term and will lead to further confusion.
I would urge General Mills to reconsider using the term gluten-friendly on any products.
Thank you for your consideration
Dear General Mills,
After seeing your concept development for a line of “gluten-friendly” biscuit mix, brownie mix, frozen biscuit dough, and frozen baked brownies, I felt immediately scared and frightened for the health and well-being of myself and others that suffer with celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergies. Unfortunately, the terms “gluten-free” and “gluten-friendly” have the same two letter abbreviation, “GF” and I fear it will cause great confusion among food service workers and the individuals being served these foods. In general, the term “gluten-freindly” is not one that I like personally because it really only signifies that foods that bear this claim are friendly to individuals that are capable of consuming gluten protein. For a celiac sufferer, the consequences of ill effects from consuming even the smallest amount of gluten protein, found in cases with “gluten-friendly” foods, can range from digestive upset to near incapacitation. Consuming foods like this overtime increases a celiac sufferer’s risks of long-term detrimental health issues and can lead to the development of other autoimmune disorders and diseases like type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS), intestinal cancers, anemia, migraines, osteoporosis, infertility and miscarriage, heart disease and stunted growth development for children. For those that have wheat allergies, their risks can be immediately life threatening. Knowing that this proposed line of food is intended to be sold through restaurants, schools, colleges, hospitals, nursing homes, and sports venues, I fear especially for the individuals that are children and elderly that may be unable to fully advocate for themselves, and be allowed to make informed choices with their food. I need to know that if ever I become hospitalized, attend college, or ever require living assistance, that I will not have to experience comprised safety and ill-health due to accidentally being served foods like yours, that will complicate and create confusion for servers, hospital workers, and caretakers. If you plan to move forward with your line of pastries and desserts, I ask that you label them, biscuit mix, brownie mix, frozen biscuit dough, and frozen baked brownies. Period. I appreciate your consideration on my comments regarding your proposed development line.
Kindly,
A Celiac Suffer
My question is who is this product supposed to help? If it is labeled Gluten Friendly, it would not be for people with Celiac. Will P & G be marketing this towards people who don’t want to have gluten, but it’s ok if they might have some? This is very confusing as someone with Celiac, trying to find safe food to eat. Thanks, but no thanks!!
This seems like such a bad idea. It isn’t safe for those with celiac disease, but the ability to read labels and check ingredients is not being offered to the consumer. This is exactly the type of thing that under-informed restaurants, hospitals, schools, and other establishments would market as gluten free, thereby risking the health of those they are attempting to accommodate. Even certified GF foods (please note that this stands for Gluten FREE) are often unsafe for celiacs due to unsafe preparation or handling. Beginning with unsafe ingredients adds even more risk to these foods that will likely be offered to consumers who need truly GF food to survive. The danger posed for those with celiac disease far outweighs the convenience offered to those who have a choice and do not medically require gluten free. Options such as these do not even give establishments a chance to serve celiac-safe foods, and instead spreads the false notion that gluten free is nothing more than another demographic to capitalize on. You wouldn’t tell someone that acetaminophen was “close enough” to their prescription medicine, so why are those in the food industry trying to offer variations on the diet that my doctors have prescribed to me and others with celiac disease? Gluten free is medically necessary. Substitutions not permitted.
I think it’s deplorable to capitalize on a fad at the expense of people with a disease! Would they sell “sugar friendly” products to diabetics? If they start this line I will be Forced to ban all General Mills products of any kind and will ensure all family and friends do the same so I can be safe.
if they’re making a line with “no gluten containing ingredients” just go one step further and make them below 20ppm and have them be labeled gluten free. We know they can do it. I use their gluten free Funfetti mix a lot and it’s great.
General Mills, if your items are labeled “gluten friendly” they are not safe for people with celiac disease and other wheat related allergies. I encourage you to go the extra mile and make your products “Certified Gluten Free”. If you do this, you will create a very loyal customer base. Families with allergies (and celiac disease- not an allergy- an auto-immune disease) take label reading very seriously. One mistake, and our loved ones become seriously ill. If you can certify that your items are gluten free, we can buy them with confidence. If you can only say they are semi-safe- we have no choice but to skip the purchase (gluten friendly doesn’t even make sense- friendly to gluten?).
Also- we struggle to have restaurants, cafeterias (and even hospitals!) provide us with safe, truly gluten free food. When you mass produce items and label them GF (using your definition: gluten friendly)- well meaning chefs assume that they can give it to people with celiac disease. Cross contamination makes people with celiac disease sick. We need your help in developing products that are safe for our consumption. (And if you can make a truly gluten free biscuit- believe me- you will have a loyal following!).
Having Celiac Disease is not fun. It is not trendy. It is not convenient. It is not relaxing. Like it or not, we have to wrestle with it every single day. Being in a social setting where there is food served puts us on high-alert for everything we might eat, or even touch, and observing and questioning which utensils touched which food items, and under what conditions was each portion of each food prepared, and whose hands touched something with gluten and then touched something that we might ingest. That’s our life. Every day. It’s tough!
I can easily picture well-intentioned loved ones of mine purchasing and preparing a “gluten friendly” product of yours, and serving it to me, thinking they were being kind to me, helping me “fit in” to the group, providing a treat to me, or just trying to help me feel normal. They want to be “friendly” to me, the one with the gluten disease. After all, there are “no gluten containing ingredients” in the product, so it’s OK, right?
And then they poison me.
The Celiac Disease community has a hard enough time being able to rely on the “Certified Gluten Free” credential and symbol. It can fail us sometimes. But it’s the main designation and standard we have in this country and we highly value it. Knowing that, why would a major food manufacturer want to obfuscate that already tenuous gluten FREE designation with a similar-sounding, appealing (who wouldn’t like “friendly” anything?), yet extremely misleading (deceptive?) descriptor masking a food product that is dangerous to the community it will be seen to serve?
That sounds downright irresponsible of General Mills.
“Gluten Friendly” sounds like it’s “good enough” and happy and positive. But for the (growing) Celiac Disease community, it’s yet one more way of sneaking gluten into our systems, unnecessarily adding to the complexity we face of protecting our lives. Every day. It’s a giant step backwards, and not at all what we need. And that feels so disrespectful and spiteful.
Our hospital recently gave us Cheerios as a gluten free alternative. Because it was an individual size, we were able to see the product label and avoid being glutened by it. With products like the ones proposed, we don’t get the luxury of seeing the label and can only hope that the person making our food understands that “gluten friendly” is not the same as “gluten free”. We shouldn’t have to worry about being glutened like this and we shouldn’t have to worry about labelling like this. This labelling sets back Celiacs every where and provides no benefit expect to General Mill’s pocketbook.
Gluten friendly is a waste of time. It is on no use to me and most others No interested and never will be!!
General Mills, you are placing the health of many at risk with this proposed product line! Using the term Gluten Friendly, and packaging with a symbol resembling a trust-worth seal, can only cause confusion and mis-placed confidence in products that may be unsafe. This is also an unnecessary burden on the food service community trying to serve people safely. Moving forward with this jeopardizes any good will you have with the gluten free community AND the people that love and care for them.
Gluten friendly will confuse the staff at the restaurants and cafeterias serving these products. Few of them understand what gluten free means, from a medical perspective. And they are extremely likely to tell a customer a product GM labels “gluten friendly” is actually “gluten free”.
General Mills, please understand this. If you are not ensuring your product is actually gluten free at manufacturing, don’t label it. Period.
So basically this is the same as making a “peanut free” cookie dough in the same factory at the same time you make your peanut cookies and strongly implying its safe for those with peanut allergies?
Dear GM,
I’m the mother of one child with Celiac Disease and one without. I can not and do not feed your products to my child with Celiac as they are jot Celiac safe. However the rest of my house can eat them. If you go through with this, it will be the last straw. There is simply no excuse for this. You’re knowling and willing putting your profits over an entire community of people whom you know darn well are fighting for clarity and recognition in their needed food labels. You know how easily people with Celiac disease are poisoned. You know it, we know you do.
You’re part of the problem. It sickens me. You truly sicken me. I’ve been advocating for my child for years in school, in our family, with friends. Now your going to set us back publicly even further. For shame. The more I sit and think about this the angrier I grow. You’re purposefully taking a symbol which you know means one thing and using it for another. I’m done with you. We will no longer use your products, and yes I will do my research and I am a good label reader. I will know what products are yours and which are owned by you.
I’m disgusted by this proposed line. I’m glad they aren’t trying to say gluten-feee any more because they are not making their products in dedicated facilities and I know one factory in particular that don’t clean it properly.
Let’s call it what it is, less gluten. I’m MORE DISGUSTED with the fact this will be distributed in hospitals, care facilities and restaurants. The people that aren’t knowledge about CD can EASILY feed it to someone who has CD. The chances of someone needing gluten-free food, in those facilities are the ones who desparatley need it to literally survive. I’ve been hospitalized 8 times in 6 months due to complications from CD. And I have my husband bring food to me after being exposed to gluten, not because it wasn’t on my chart but because the ingredients weren’t truly gluten free.
I won’t be purchasing anything of the sort. My Mom tries to be mindful but still I have to double check what she cooks for me on family get togethers because of MISLEADING products like this. And it makes her feel like shit.
Is it gluten-free or isn’t it? “Gluten-friendly” has no meaning to someone with a gluten allergy or celiac disease.
I would whole heartedly be a loyal customer if this were certified gluten free but also if soy free. Too many fillers added to our foods as it is and nearly impossible to find foods free from top 8 most common allergens.
My son has celiac disease and because of that our entire family of 6 will only purchase certified gluten free foods to keep him safe and to show our support for him.
Please understand that celiac disease is NOT a choice!!
Gluten Friendly” is NOT Gluten Free! It’s for people that think a gluten free diet is a “Fad Diet” or for people that just think they have a gluten intolerance but not actually diagnosed with Celiac Disease! Celiac Disease is very serious & has to be certified Gluten Free before I’ll eat it. I’m already irritated enough with companies that think it’s ok to label their products Gluten Free when they contain oats! All Oats are NOT Gluten Free only certified are & not all Celiacs can tolerate them! So stop labeling them Gluten Free & put a disclaimer on the package that says “Not for people with Celiac Disease.”
Is this your attempt to just charge more for this product? Gluten friendly has no meaning!
Absolutely appalling. This could cause so many complications and medical emergencies, it’s terrifying to think of! I have very little GM products in my home and will likely find a new brand of what I do use because of, so called, brilliant ideas like this. I can’t trust this brand at all now.
I am five years into my celiac diagnosis and I know well enough now to spot marketing terms like “gluten friendly”, “gluten aware” or “gluten light” and understand them for what they are: marketing woo. An effort on the part of the manufacturer to sell product to those people in the population who are choosing to eat gluten-free, some for their own reasons and some out of medical necessity like the celiac community. I also understand that these products are not safe for celiacs. But that’s because I have learned through personal experience and the wisdom of those celiacs who have been dealing with this disease for longer than I have that we have to be our own advocates and that only tried and true brands can be trusted. Spoiler alert: General Mills is not one of those brands. By perpetuating the marketing mumbo jumbo of “gluten friendly”, General Mills is confusing newly diagnosed celiacs, or those who still struggle with what is safe and what isn’t, and putting profits ahead of the health of their customers. They are trading on their trusted brand name to sell products at any cost, putting the health and well-being of their celiac customers in danger. One would think all the outrage over their Cheerios labelling might have taught them that the celiac community needs them to be a better corporate citizen. But alas, it appears not. What a shame.
This is NOT safe for my daughter, and shame on General Mills for capitalizing on the “GF” letters that usually ensure safe food for my daughter. I have taught her to look for these letters so she can begin to advocate for her own safe eating. Being cross contaminated or fed gluten can lead to certain cancers and epilepsy… it’s kind of a big deal. She needs foods not made on shared lines and that are guaranteed to be gluten free.
This is a terrible idea to label anything gluten friendly! It’s making it more difficult for those with Celiac Disease to eat safely. It’s already challenging to eat and this is going to cause confusion which may make many people sick. Get rid of this idea!!
“Gluten Friendly” is confusing. Do not move forward with confusing food descriptions, please. Our health depends on clarity in labeling so please. do better for those of us with Celiac or other gluten allergies.
I’m so tired of people using “gluten friendly” to imply gluten free. For those of us with celiac disease gluten is anything but friendly. Saying something is gluten friendly means it’s friendly to gluten, or in English should mean that it fully contains gluten. Basically all the food we cannot eat is already gluten friendly. How has this misuse of the English language managed to continue for so long?
Horrible idea General Mills! There is nothing friendly about gluten to those with Celiac! Don’t make this change!!
“Gluten Friendly” is a misnomer. For foods prepared in a controllable area and packaged for mass market, “Gluten Friendly” is patently stupid and an insult to intelligence.
@generalmills Once a leader in the food Industry, these kind of antics demonstrate that you are trying to get your head in the gluten free game as a gimmick and tactic to put profit over people. And by considering to allow these products into food service where consumers will be dangerously affected by misuse of these products as gluten free is the height of irresponsibility. Do the right thing, either follow the law to keep Celiacs safe and hire people who UNDERSTAND what that means or step out of the party.
General Mills, please just don’t. Just state No Gluten containing ingredients. Or better yet, actually make them gluten free. Then everyone who needs or wants to be gluten free could eat it!!!
I appreciate your consideration!
Shame on you, General Mills. Another example of a company putting profit before people. This is clearly an effort for you to cash in on the gluten-free trend, which is far from a fad if you suffer from Celiac disease. Whether this product sees the light of day or not, General Mills has lost my business. This is almost as ridiculous as the “reduced gluten” label I saw from another company.
Dear General Mills:
You’re better than this. If you can’t make a product that is truly gluten free, please don’t use misleading terms such as “gluten friendly”. All you’ll end up doing is generating ill will with the celiac disease community. You’ll be perceived as profiting from our illness.
It’s either Gluten Free or it’s not. “Gluten Friendly” is a bunch of lazy crap, putting children and adults with celiac at risk. Do the right thing and don’t incorrectly use “GF” to make a buck. This is ridiculous. It’s bad enough people think it’s a “fad diet” you either offer a true gluten free product or don’t, but please respect the celiac community.
“Gluten Friendly” is a very confusing term, and one that people in the food service industry will easily mistake for gluten free. Shortening Gluten Friendly to GF is misleading and will no doubt cause people with celiac disease to get glutened, making them sick.
A note to General Mills: People with celiac disease must take our gluten free seriously. If you want us to be your customers, you must do the same. Be honest in your labelling so we can make educated decisions about what we consume.
Gluten Free is not the same as Gluten Friendly. Celiac is a serious condition and there is nothing friendly about gluten for those with allergies. Gluten Friendly is NOT Gluten Free! Do the right thing here and don’t make it easy for people to be confused. Food allergies are hard enough to manage without companies trying to be ‘cute.’ Do the right thing here and treat food allergies and food labels with the seriousness it deserves.
As has been stated by many others, the term Gluten Friendly and the symbol GF are extremely misleading and will cause confusion for customers. If these products are gluten free then have them certified and use the appropriate symbol. If not, then change the labeling and remove the term Gluten friendly. My college son already struggles with food labeled gluten free that is not certified such as Cheerios. They are not Celiac safe and should only be labeled GF if they meet testing threshold standards. This is our food supply, let’s be transparent and not confusing.
My father and I have celiac disease. Due to this General Mills “concept in development,” we will never order General Mills products if one of us is hospitalized. After the Cheerios fiasco, General Mills could have attempted to improve its marketing; yet, here we go again. For those who are just learning how to eat safely after a celiac diease diagnosis, General Mills began labeling Cheerios “gluten free” a couple of years ago. After Gluten Free Watchdog began receiving complaints about Cheerios making its subscribers ill, it began testing various lots of Cheerios. The tests results are available on the Gluten Free Watchdog web page. After Gluten Free Watchdog sent the test results to FDA, FDA began testing various lots of Cheerios. Many lots of Cheerios tested by Gluten Free Watchdog and/or FDA tested positive for gluten at 20 ppm or more. General Mills has a long way to go before it earns my family’s trust. We do not serve any General Mills products to family members or guests with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, or wheat allergy
1. “Gluten friendly” is a ridiculous term. Gluten is not friendly for people with celiac or gluten intolerance 2. These products do not appear to be safe for people with celiac disease. If they want to create gluten free products please create certified gf products. 3. If a restaurant is serving these products, that would be even more challenging for people with celiac.
A pet friendly motel tells people the motel is friendly to pets. Why in the world would anyone with gluten issues even look at a product that says it is, technically, “friendly to gluten”? I could sort of understand a product that was called “gluten free friendly”, although it would be off limits for anyone with CD since we must have Gluten FREE food. But, seriously … why label a product as being “friendly” to anything?? If the target buyer is fad dieters they can tell it like it is … “contains no gluten ingredients but NOT Celiac friendly”. Maybe one day food manufacturers will start taking our life or death need for properly labeled foods seriously.
Labeling a product “Gluten Friendly” that is not gluten free is deceptive, irresponsible and wrong. To market to a commercial buyers is atrocious. If this is the level of thought General Mills is bringing to the public, I’ve bought my last General Mills product.
It baffles me why any company who is considering making the step of providing a product with gluten free ingredients wouldn’t just commit to making it gluten free. Consider that at least 1% of the population is estimated to have celiac disease and the possibility of gluten contamination is a serious medical issue for us. Those people who haven’t had the experience of having a disease like celiac might not be aware of how much it means to us for a truly gluten free product line to be created, and how big a portion of their customers we would be if they could make a product that is truly gluten free.
Another point is that the feeding of this “gluten friendly” craze has led to a lot of confusion in the general population about it. It’s nice that people know what gluten is, but unfortunately this concept that “naturally gluten free” is really good enough is actually very dangerous for the 1% of the population who could be really harmed by it. It’s not as simple as saying that all the burden of education falls on us. We also have to deal on a daily basis with the friends, family members and well-meaning strangers who are ready to swear up and down that something is safe for us when it’s really going to harm us. We have to make a risk based decision every single time we eat something that wasn’t made with our own hands. I would really ask General Mills to reconsider creating a product with a medically meaningless label to not contribute more to these misconceptions about what gluten free really means, although I also think it’s really worth their considering making a truly GF line of products.
As a person with celiac disease I can assure you there is absolutely nothing FRIENDLY about gluten! [It basically is GLUE. Would you like to serve your loved ones some glue?] Please provide certified gluten free products! And while you’re at it, PLEASE omit the soy as well! Many people are allergic to BOTH gluten (present in wheat, barley & rye). Apparently this is primarily because (1) the wheat & soy proteins are very similar in structure, and because farmers typically rotate their crops from wheat to soy in order to replenish the soil. Subsequently, this promotes contact contamination…making soy celiac-UNsafe.
For more about the very real potential dangers of soy, read “Soybean Oil Linked to Genetic and Neurological Damage,” an article posted Feb. 3, 2020 by Dr. Joseph Mercola on his website. It is frightening at best.
Please give us celiac-SAFE food!
What exactly does gluten friendly mean? As big as a company that you are you should bring doing the right thing by producing the items in a gluten free kitchen, testing the final product and certifying the product to be gluten free. There is a supply and the demand, do it the right way.
I love the idea of frozen gluten free frozen biscuits as a retail product (I’m from the South!), but I would only buy/trust them if CERTIFIED Gluten free. GLUTEN FRIENDLY sounds like it’s good for someone who wants to make friends with gluten. I have enough trouble finding SAFE food for my celiac daughter outside of the house without it becoming more complicated with this kind of bull****! Hire someone with celiac (who takes it seriously) or a parent of a celiac child for your gluten free product staff NOW, because this is embarrassing.
In agreement with the thoughtful comments above, and can only add that General Mills should either make these products Certified Gluten Free, or just forget about the product line altogether. They would be doing us a grave disservice if they went ahead with this “gluten friendly” (whatever that is) travesty.
Coming from a Mom who has watched her daughter with Celiac suffer in bed for a minimum of 4 days because a crumb of gluten prevents her from walking due to inflammation in her spine. General Mills developing gluten friendly products are a ridiculous idea! The victims of Celiac deserve support from our food industries to help society respect and understand how serious this auto immune disease is.
I am frightened to see this potential new line by GM. As someone with Celiac Disease for over ten years, I only purchase products that say gluten free or certified gluten free. What does “gluten friendly” even mean? The wording “gluten free” was made to protect people like me. It is not a fad diet, but a very serious medical condition. If GM goes forward with this, the wording is misleading and could hurt people that cannot tolerate gluten. I don’t think they would ever consider coming out with a “nut friendly” line. I don’t believe gluten allergies and intolerances are taken seriously when I hear things like this. I firmly believe most people on a gluten free diet are doing it because of CD, intolerance to it, allergy or just feel better, not for dieting and weight loss. So “gluten friendly” isn’t going to cut it. I don’t find this acceptable and it’s incredibly irresponsible.
What is the purpose of targeting your Food Service division with a gluten “friendly” product line unless it is so that hospitals and nursing homes can offer it to their patients and residents who REQUIRE gluten free? This terrifies me. Eight years ago I had to watch as my son recovered from a horrible car accident. He requires gluten free for medical reasons. Many with celiac and nonceliac gluten sensitivity experience episodes of vomiting and/or diarrhea when they consume even small amounts of gluten (just to name a couple reactions). If my son experienced these reactions to gluten—and was given one of your “gluten friendly” products as “gluten free,” in either the hospital or rehab, the consequence would have been catastrophic (due to the injuries he was recovering from). Instead, gluten makes him feel generally miserable. I can assure you, he was miserable enough. Beyond miserable. He was in an immense amount of pain. He didn’t need it added to because of someone’s careless products. EVERYONE in the hospital is there for a reason. They are recovering from *something.* Providing your “gluten friendly” products to those who have no option to go out and cook for themselves is disgusting! If it goes through, I can assure you, I will not buy another single General Mills product—ever!
I am not celiac but I do have NCGS and my symptoms are so strong neurologically (ataxia/drunken dizziness, extreme lethargy, joint pain from head to toes, and so on) that I take every step possible to avoid any cross-contamination since small amounts can accumulate. Yes, even trace amounts can affect some people – even those with NCGS. It is awful and makes any additional underlying health issues hard to diagnose because if food is in question as a possible player it is always wondered if it’s gluten exposure at work or something else entirely. Because of this, I always avoid consuming/purchasing any food that states “make contain trace amounts” or “made in a facility with wheat, gluten, etc.”. It’s just not worth the health risk both short term, in addition to long-term risks due to gluten consumption.
Eating out gluten free is already a challenge with celiac disease. Asking tons of questions, trying to gauge the knowledge of the person answering. This would add another layer of difficulty. You know the people in the kitchen would see GF, or gluten friendly and think gluten free. Celiac diners would have no way of avoiding this. Gluten friendly isn’t even a term that means anything. The gluten free diet was developed for people with a serious medical condition. We have no other treatment. GM, do the right thing and stop development of this dangerous product line.
As the cook in a home with someone with Celiac disease, I am relentless in making sure everything that comes into our home is Gluten Free. Not Gluten Friendly. That is a meaningless term used to sell products without really doing the due diligence of making them safe. How many small companies will use these products, thinking that GF means Gluten Free and make people sick? General Mills as a large corporation, has the resources to understand what Gluten Free is, and for them to try to worm their way out of it is reprehensible. It is just an attempt to make a profit off people who are struggling to be able to eat safely, all while making them sick. I ask General Mills to make these products, they sound fantastic, but to make them truly Gluten Free and get them certified. Serve the Celiac community in that way and you would be a hero.
Gluten friendly is a dangerous term for someone who has been diagnosed with celiac disease. I do not want my young daughter to have “accidental” exposure from well meaning institutions which could lead her to a life of osteoporosis, additional autoimmune diseases and cancer. Cross contamination is a daily worry for me as she still doesn’t understand the severity of her disease and could easily get very sick from ingesting a microscopic amount of gluten. Instead please be a leader in the food industry to protect her and other consumers with truly gluten free foods.
Dear General Mills,
“Gluten Friendly” is an intentionally misleading marketing term clearly intending to give an connotation of health, when in fact there is no health benefits for the general population, and potential harm to those with Celiac Disease. Using a term with matching initials “GF” with Gluten Free for your package labeling is certainly going to lead to confusion between the terms. If they go on the market, these proposed products will be baked into goods sold or provided as “Gluten Free” by restaurants, hospitals, and schools. You would be putting small profit over the health and safety of millions of children and adults with Celiac Disease. Please act responsibly and don’t attempt to skirt the FDA’s Gluten Free labeling rule.
Even better, please do produce genuine Gluten Free products for institutions, and provide instructions on preventing cross contamination during preparation on the package.
As the founder of a very popular Celiac Disease Support group on Facebook, I allowed for this article to be posted on the page. I think more people should know about General Mills is now attempting to do. Not only is their cereal not safe even though they claim it is, but now they are going to this extent as well? Pathetic!
I think we should follow in Canada’s footsteps and get the statement “Gluten Free” off General Mills Cheerios permanently!
General Mills, don’t play around with the Celiac community!
Low Gluten is not even a thing, stop playing games!!
Thank you Gluten Free Watchdog, You are a fantastic asset to this community!
We all (LOVE YOU!!!)
Please do not move forward with these products. I imagine they’ll be cheaper to produce than actual gluten free products, therefore the price will be lower for your buyers. I can already picture hospitals, senior centers, and restaurants wanting to cut costs and deciding that your gluten friendly products are good enough for those with celiac or gluten intolerance. I can see patients in the hospital having unexplained diarrhea or neurological issues or vomiting all because they were fed this product. Or an elderly person in a care facility suffering these issues and going through unnecessary testing to figure out what’s going on. The fact that these will be marketed to these industries is far worse than if they were on the retail shelf. If they were sold directly to consumers, we could at least read the packaging and put it back on the shelf (probably while cursing under our breath about the item).
If y’all were to step up your game and put in the effort to make SAFE gluten free frozen biscuits and the like and sell them directly to consumers, my kids would be overjoyed. I have three teen boys, and I can guarantee we’d go through a lot of those. But instead, y’all are putting your efforts into something that endangers the celiac community and makes us angry and frustrated. Please either do it right or don’t do it at all.
So gluten friendly won’t cut it. It is or is not gluten free. Abide by the FDA, Celiac Disease Foundation and National Celiac Association. Don’t confuse the market. Either be Gluten Free or don’t bother. And that includes cross contamination. Do or do not, there is no gluten friendly.
This honestly just makes me sad. It’s so hard to go out to eat because of the over use of “gluten friendly.” I think it’s more acceptable in restaurants & I appreciate the honesty, but NOT consumer goods. They should not be able to use that terminology in their marketing- it will just create so many more problems for us as we shop as other companies think that’s acceptable too. PLEASE keep labeling clear and safe😭
Please don’t do this General Mills! I worry about the safety of my daughter and everyone else who has the diagnosis of celiac if this labeling becomes acceptable. It is confusing and potentially dangerous to those with celiac and I would be so sad if this labeling practice begins.
As someone with Celiac Disease, I almost feel like if this line DOES move forward, it would be safer if it were sold in stores not restaurants, etc. A lot of us have problems with restaurants as it is, with their lack of knowledge of safe food for Celiac people. This would, IMO, add fuel to the fire. They would be serving it saying yes it’s safe, but then we eat it and become sick.
Overall I don’t feel it’s a good idea at all. But especially not safe for restaurants.
General Mills—
As a Celiac RDN, I’m very concerned about the new proposed line.
The FDA defined gluten-free for a reason. The GF is recognizable and understood to mean gluten-free. This is deliberately misleading.
Worse, these products are designed for food service—hospitals, long-term care facilities, etc. These are often captive audiences, who believe they are getting gluten-free foods. Many people are getting more gluten than they can safely tolerate already.
As a dietitian I worry about people who need to be strictly gluten-free for medical reasons.
General Mills spends a lot of money marketing to RDNs, telling us how they are looking out for consumer’s health. Please show us you mean it.
Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
I am a hospital-based dietitian who has worked closely with patients with celiac disease for ten years. I will tell my foodservice director that this is an unsafe line of products and NEVER to order it for our GF patients. I will guess that my colleagues will do the same.
Instead of pouring the company’s money into this, can you develop a product that we actually could serve to our GF patients?
As a parent of a 4-year-old with celiac disease, there is nothing more important to me, than keeping my daughter safe! If a large company, like General Mills, feels that it is ok to produce misleading products (especially after receiving countless letters expressing concern and dissatisfaction), that could seriously jeopardize the health of many…as other companies could think “gluten friendly” is an appropriate label option. And if General Mills knowingly chooses to move forward with these products, I’m sure they can expect to lose customer that can no longer place their trust in General Mills.
Either make it “gluten FREE” or don’t make it. (BTW, a true gluten FREE one would be amazing!) But people will get confused, esp after it passes through many chains-of-command like at a restaurant or industrial kitchen, and claim it’s gluten free AND IT’S NOT! Or maybe this one batch didn’t get contaminated, but the next batch might be and the only wait to find out is to eat it and get sick – or worse! Please do not make any “friendly” products. If you want to be friendly to people on special diets, make them truly free of the allergen!
As the mother of a teenager with celiac disease, I am strongly opposed to this labeling. First, Gluten-friendly is confusing and misleading term, open to all sorts of interpretation; and when you follow a gluten-free diet for medical reasons, you want to clearly know if something is gluten-free or not. On the other hand, GF means gluten-free to most people. Showing a GF label with a something that says gluten-friendly will lead to all sorts of assumptions and misinterpretations. I thought this labeling was a bad idea when I thought it was going to be on retail shelves and we could at least educate friends and family NOT to purchase it when preparing food for my child with celiac disease. Now that I learn it will be sold to convenience stores and food service providers, I think it is an even worse idea! Many chefs and food providers are still learning what it takes to prepare gluten-free food that is free of cross contamination and safe for someone with celiac disease. If they start with a product that isn’t necessarily gluten-free and celiac-safe to begin with, it greatly puts at risk the health and well being of anyone needing to follow a gluten-free diet for health reasons. Further if that food service provider thinks that the “GF Gluten-friendly” product is actually gluten-free, they could provide incorrect information to the people they are cooking for and inadvertently cause such person be become sick and put their health at risk. General Mills, please reconsider your product idea and labeling. If you have a great gluten-free product, take the extra steps to make it truly gluten-free in accordance with FDA labeling laws and we will be happy to support it!
Gluten “friendly” is not Gluten FREE! It’s hard enough to go out to eat without companies like yours making it worse. I don’t eat a gluten free diet because I want to. I do because I have to for medical reasons. I can choose not to purchase your products in the supermarket, but if I don’t know what the restaurant is serving me I can become ill.
Please make your product CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE in accordance with FDA labeling laws. I would love to be able to try your new products under those standards.
Oh General Mills — I thought your company was one who really understood about gluten-free. But evidently not, if you are even considering making “gluten-friendly” foods that aren’t actually safe for people with celiac disease and which will cause confusion everywhere. Please don’t do this!
Please, please, please do not make it more difficult for me to safely eat gluten free foods anymore. Adding this label of “gluten friendly” to a product only increases the odds that I , or someone cooking for me, would mistakenly think this food is OK for me and it wouldn’t be. Folks with celiac disease have to be SO diligent and this would only add to the possibility of making another horrible cooking error. One of my riskier activities is to eat at someone else’s house who could easily mistake “gluten friendly” foods to be safe for me to eat. If they prepare it for me and I get sick, they would likely not trust General Mills again either. So protect folks with celiac disease, and your own reputation and do not proceed with using this phrase.
Gluten friendly is not a meaningful term, and it down plays the fact that Celiacs really need something to be gluten FREE. The amount of work a Celiac must do to remain safe is crazy, and General Mills is going to make it harder. Please don’t introduce a new term. Consider us boycotting General Mills at this time. #boycottgeneralmills #glutenfreeonly
This is ludicrous! To think I almost went to work for you, decades ago! You’re risking people’s health and life for making money off those who are “fad” gluten-sensitive AND forgetting entirely those who need gluten-FREE foods.