#hain celestial

Carrying a clear bottle of green vegetable juice has evolved into a status symbol. Here's why we're willing to spend so much.

Correction (already, I know): Rice Dream says "wheat-free," not "gluten-free" specifically on their label. But there are still grave problems with this so called "healthy" dairy and soy alternative for people with Celiac Disease.

I looked Rice Dream up again and on their website, and Hain Celestial Group for sure does not list barley on their Rice Dream ingredients list. They do, however, tell the customer on the Rice Dream packaging that there is less than 0.002% barley gluten in the product. What gives? If barley wasn't an ingredient, why is there less than a certain amount? If this was unlisted peanuts, people would be freaking out about this. Gluten isn't immediately life threatening, I know, but it does create a very serious auto-immune reaction in which our bodies attack themselves. To me, that is enough to say "you should have listed the ingredient. Now please remedy the situation."

Two problems:

#1: The label that says that there is barley in the product is on the other side of the Rice Dream box from the ingredients list. If I look at the ingredients and don't look at the rest of the packaging, then I would assume it was gluten free, which it is not.

#2: 0.002% means that for every 1000 particles of everything else, there are two particles of barley gluten. Not only is that not zero, but that is quite enough to make me sick (and did).

When I called the company they assured me it was gluten free and that, as someone with CD, I could drink it and be fine. They apparently have "tests" which prove that the product is gluten-free. Unfortunately the tests are not as good as my blood stream is at detecting poison.