This past Sunday, I posted on my Hold The Gluten Facebook Page that three of the Betty Crocker Hamburger Helpers which are currently gluten free (Cheesy Hashbrown, Asian Helper Chicken Fried Rice and Asian Helper Beef Fried Rice) will soon no longer be gluten free.
Dominic Alcocer of General Mills alerted me to this impending change. According to Dominic,
This is due to a change in manufacturing facilities, and although gluten will not be used as an ingredient in any of the three products, we will no longer be able to guarantee that they will be free from cross-contamination.
Logistically, at the shelf, we are making efforts to minimize overlap and confusion. You may, however find both gluten-free and gluten containing product on the shelf at the same time while the new product works its way through the distribution system. Our recommendation (which of course you don’t need to be reminded of) is to read the information on the ingredient list. The callout “May Contain Wheat“ will communicate which product has the potential of containing gluten.
While this decision is necessary for the Helpers line of product, it doesn’t change, in any way, General Mills’ overall commitment to the gluten-free community which goes all the way to the top of our organization. We understand that keeping track of ingredient changes in products is one of the greatest challenges in living gluten freely, and would like to request your help to communicate this change to your readers to maximize awareness and keep the gluten free community informed.
As much as I’m disappointed that Hamburger Helper will no longer be gluten free (the more gluten free mainstream foods, the better), I give General Mills credit for communicating this change via so many avenues. Even us gluten free “veterans” sometimes tend to grab and go with foods we know are GF (totally guilty!).
If you can’t get enough Gluten Free Hamburger Helper, stock up now! Just be sure to look for the Gluten Free label!
