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Unicorns and faerie dust and all that shit.

9 February 2010, 1:35 pm

Phew! after the fallout from my post admonishing Domino’s for false advertising, I think I need something shiny and pretty to talk about.

Or maybe a unicorn. Actually, if I could be bothered, I could try and stick a horn on one of the horses, but I doubt they’d be impressed and I’m not really sure I’m prepared to chase horses around the paddock all day with a camera.

Anyway

***

It’s been a hard week, this last week. I’m due for my period, my joints keep forgetting that they’re meant to attach to each other and sleep has been restless and broken.

Nan’s house sold and new people moved in. I thought I was fine with that, but it turns out, seeing their car in her driveway was a bit too much to bear. I cried a lot that day.

I miss her. So much. I would have liked to hear her perspective on Domino’s and I know she would have been watching the comments as closely as I was.

I watched a documentary on Palliative care last night. Brilliantly done. It follows four patients through their end of life journey. I cried the whole way through it, but if you’re interested, you can view it online here.

The lady with breast cancer, her attitude reminds me of Nan so much.

I miss her.

***

Photos!

My children play well together. Except when they don’t, and then I fear for my own safety as I wade into the fray of hair pulling and toy throwing to separate them. The house is in a permanent state of disarray, but we’re all having fun. Except for Nathan, the mess makes him twitch.

Susie is settling in well. She’s such a smart puppy and she learns so fast, that aside from normal puppy behaviours, we’ve not had any issues.

We just won’t talk about her penchant for chewing books.

Naughty dog.

***

Again on the Domino’s thing – I rang the ACCC and the government body who deals with food safety and labelling. They’re very interested in Domino’s; as the ACCC says, it’s deceptive advertising to call something Gluten Free and then add a disclaimer that it might not be completely gluten free.

Please forgive me for not knowing which government department exactly I was speaking to, I was passed through 4-5 before I got the right people. It’s someone in the Health Department and they deal with food labelling laws and issues arising from mislabelled food.

Anyway, the guy I spoke to at the Health Department, he says that Domino’s cannot have it both ways and agrees that yes, they are breaking the law in claiming Gluten Free, but then adding a disclaimer. He was lovely and we discussed the issue, including the response I got from the Coeliac Society and Domino’s.

So I can let it go, at least on the internet.

It’s being investigated by the relevant officials now.

Filed under Going Gluten Free, Odds and Ends.
16 Comments

Minor Technical Details –

7 February 2010, 3:52 pm

To everyone clicking through your feed reader to my latest post and getting a 404 error, I’m sorry, I’m having some small technical issues with a post that wasn’t meant to go live for a while.

I got a WP error in the middle of scheduling it to post later and then everything went wrong.

Argh!

So uh, don’t mind me. Just pretend you didn’t see it, okay? I’ve just rescheduled it and resync’d feedburner, so it might not even be an issue yet.

xx

love me

Filed under Odds and Ends.
5 Comments

Gluten Free Pizza from Dominos – but it may contain traces of gluten.

5 February 2010, 3:26 pm

So, Domino’s Pizza Australia is doing a range of gluten free pizzas now.

Which is great, it truly is. I was over the moon when I heard, knowing that some days, I would just really like to be able to buy a pizza, without all the hassle of making my own bases.

I did a quick search, to see if it really was true, or if it was a rumour and no, definitely truth.

Inevitably I wondered at the price of gluten free bases and so clicked over to the Domino’s website to check out the pricing on gluten free bases.

Only to find this when I moused over the gluten free base selection.

Gluten Free Base* Although all due care is taken with your order, your meal may contain traces of gluten. Please note your pizza topping selection may not be gluten free.

I was struck dumb, before starting to swear and curse just a little.

What use is a gluten free pizza, if it isn’t actually gluten free? I am not taking objection to the possibility of some of the topping choices not being gluten free. I know to avoid those. However, there are 13 toppings advertised as being GF choices.

And if it were just the toppings that were not gluten free, wouldn’t it only mention toppings? Not this line about ‘Although all due care is taken…’

So, Dear Domino’s,

Did you know in Australia, to declare something GLUTEN FREE, it needs to actually be, GLUTEN FREE?

It is illegal in Australia, to call something gluten free, if there is a chance it may contain traces of gluten. ILLEGAL.

False advertising all around and I am fuming.

Now, if I hadn’t researched, if I’d just gone down to the local pizza shop and bought a pizza that is declared GLUTEN FREE and endorsed by the Coeliac Society of Australia, then there is a good possibility that your pizza would have made my little girl very ill.

When she has gluten, it damages her intestines. She gets stomach pain and diarrhoea. Her behaviour deteriorates and she can’t control her moods or her body properly. She can’t absorb any nutrients from her gluten free diet and she loses weight, all because of a little bit of gluten.

It takes her gut THREE WEEKS to heal. Three weeks of a very sick little girl, all because something that should have been gluten free was contaminated with trace amounts of gluten.

It’s not good enough Domino’s, not good enough at all.

And to the Coeliac Society of Australia, I think your research was flawed and for you to be endorsing a product that isn’t actually gluten free disappoints me.

Edited to add:

I have spoken to the Coeliacs Society of Australia and they want to make it very clear that they are only endorsing the BASES of Domino’s gluten free pizza’s. The bases are made elsewhere and are certified gluten free.

Forgive me for thinking this, but when you say gluten free pizza, I imagine a base with tomato and toppings and cheese on top. Not just a baked base. Yes, the base might be gluten free when it leaves the factory, but it doesn’t stay that way if it is then contaminated with gluten while in the Domino’s store. And Dominos even says itself that they have 13 different gluten free toppings – so why aren’t they endorsed too? Oh wait, that’s right, because they can’t guarantee the gluten free status of them.

I am so so angry.

**

Edited to add – I left this in the comments, but thought it would probably be better up here.

The Laws –

16 Claims in relation to gluten content of food
(1) Claims in relation to the gluten content of food are prohibited unless expressly
permitted by this Code.

(2) A claim to the effect that a food is gluten free must not be made in relation to a food
unless the food contains –
(a) no detectable gluten; and
(b) no –
(i) oats or their products; or
(ii) cereals containing gluten that have been malted, or their products.

From here – http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/ACF2A90.pdf Page 15 of the PDF file. From Food Standards Australia and New Zealand

***

I am unsticking this post, not because Domino’s has addressed my concerns (form letter – not good enough) but because the tone of the comments is getting nasty and I’m not quite prepared to deal with much more personal nastiness. That said, comments will remain open and I will continue discussions with Domino’s, The ACCC and Food Standards Australia in regards to the illegal labelling.

Filed under Going Gluten Free, On My Soapbox.
76 Comments

Amy-ism for a Friday

5 February 2010, 9:31 am

Amy: Mummy, I am cold. I needa hug you.

Me: Okay, but go and get some clothes out of your drawers.

Amy has a meltdown, throws herself at the floor screaming, a little difficult when she is twined around my ankles.

Me: Amy – go and get some clothes. They’re in your drawers.

Amy: BUT! I AM TOO LITTLE! I CAN’T REACH THEM!

I should mention here that she can definitely reach the drawers and has gotten herself dressed plenty of times. Just not this morning apparently.

***

Screeching ‘I am TOO LITTLE’ has been the theme around here lately, every time she is asked to do something. And geez, she is three, it’s not like I’m making unnecessary demands.

(Pick up that toy you dropped please, eat some more lunch, put your knickers back on, pass your brother back his drink.)

And she wails BUT I AM TOO LITTLE.

Filed under Amy, Gotta Laugh.
20 Comments

Have Your Say: Food Issues

3 February 2010, 9:42 pm

Okay, so here is the deal. I want to start doing a ‘thing’ where I’ll talk about something and you can all chime in with as much advice as you like. Normally mothers get annoyed about unsolicited advice, but this time, I’m asking for help.

Also, I will be about in the comments, so if you want to ask something and have people chime in, even if it’s just to say ‘my kid did that too and grew out of it’ then please, do so. We’ve got a community built here, we may as well utilise it.

****

Now, on to my issue:

Isaac, he doesn’t swallow food. I feed him and he chews the food, but doesn’t swallow, just spits it out again once it’s chewed.

If I give him pureed or mashed food, he might swallow a mouthful maybe, before he realises that I’ve deposited it in his mouth, but mostly, he’ll spit it into his hand and try to feed it to me. Failing that, he’ll just drop it. He’s not a fan of spoon food.

If I feed him finger food, which is his preference, he chews it and then spits it out without swallowing. I can give him half an apple and come back and the apple will be gone, but really, the apple is sitting in a giant circle of chewed pieces around him.

Peas, well, he’ll eat a few peas, before chewing and spitting the rest. The same for most of his other vegetables. Actually, considering I don’t count the peas, he is probably just chewing and spitting all of them. I haven’t seen any come out the other end.

He will eat soft fruit: cantaloupe, watermelon, pears, nectarines. He won’t eat the skin of nectarines or pears and once he gets near the skin he starts spitting. If I peel them first, he still mostly spits the food out.

He will drink milk or water from a bottle or a sippy cup. He is down to 1-2 breastfeeds a day and as of right now, I haven’t breastfed him for 15 hours and I’m not likely to feed him again for another 12 or so hours.

He doesn’t appear to be losing weight, but I don’t have any scales here to check if he is gaining weight either.

He is drinking a full bottle at bedtime and naptime, but I know he is hungry when I give him solid food to eat, so it’s not a hunger issue that I can see.

Oh and he is just over 12 months old.

My questions:

Does anyone else’s child do this?

Does anyone have any good ideas that I can try, to get him to start swallowing the food?

And, to my readers with experience in Ehlers Danlos Syndrome – do you think this could be EDS related? We don’t have another specialist Paeds appointment for another five months, but if he continues to not swallow, I’m prepared to push for an earlier appointment.

Finally: Does anyone else have any questions they want answers to about kids and food? If so, leave them in the comments section. Commenters, read the comments, someone might be dealing with your exact same issue. This might work really well, or it might flop. Frankly, if it helps me get Isaac actually swallowing solid food, then I don’t care.

Kids! Sheesh, but they’re stressful.

Filed under Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Have Your Say, Isaac.
33 Comments
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