Houmous - any safe brands?

Hi, I'm missing houmous and not very good at recreating my own. Are there any brands out there that people are finding safe for coeliac, particularly if you are super-sensitive.

[Whydothis]

I haven't bought any recently, but I have never had a problem with Sainsbury's own brand versions. Having said that, I must admit that I have always assumed houmous was safe. The brands I have looked at have never had any contamination warnings, and the ingredients are fine.

Edited to put "houmous" back where auto correct put "you out"!

[Hidden in reply to Whydothis]

The issue with contamination risk warnings is they only have to provide those as an option/choice - they are not legally bound to do that, so may choose not to.

[Whydothis in reply to Hidden]

That's true - I don't think I have bought houmous since I started to understand the cross-contamination problem better. Do you think that supermarket own brands (and particularly Sainsburys) can be trusted on this? It is not a food that is sold/labelled as GF, and even if it was we have the 20ppm problem!

[Hidden in reply to Whydothis]

They certainly won't be testing it for gluten, and even if labelled as GF you still have the 20ppm issue at play as you state. Again, everyone is different and I've found a lot of foods not labelled at GF are perfectly fine, whereas those labelled at GF make me ill. It's the unpleasant and unfair lottery we are expected to play at the expense of our health. I've checked in past with Tesco and told that, as you say, because no cross-contamination risk on label or in ingredients, then it's safe. I stated that is no indication of no cross-contamination risk in production and if they could check with producer. They never responded. That was on their own brand houmous.

[Hidden in reply to Whydothis]

Thank you. I would like some more clear advice on the packaging. I think Sainsbury are a good company so possible safest bet, but I'm still too wary to risk it.

[Whydothis in reply to Hidden]

Perhaps one (or more) of us should email and ask them! I don't know how easy it is to find the right address for this sort of query, or how helpful they would be.

[Hidden in reply to Whydothis]

Not a bad idea. I'll do a hunt and see what they come back with. I often think the solution to many of our issues is to win at least one retailer over to our needs/way of thinking and get them to work on at least a few own-brand ranges to meet the true needs of coeliacs, rather than the needs that are assumed on basis of what the ppm directive states.

[Hidden]

Jury's out for me on this. I've always trusted Tesco and Sainsbury own-brands, but have had issue with Tesco's 'extra special' range. I had been made ill by Morrison's houmous and suspect similar for Asda, so avoid those. I think it's worth looking at other products within the range that may contain wheat. So, even if they don't declare risk of contaminents on label, they don't have to do that by law.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yes, this is the risk of under-declaring cross contamination of gluten. It's massively frustrating. Thank you for your recommendations though.

[daveh121]

If you fell inclined it is not difficult to make at home. Just a few beans, garlic, and spices. Only a bit of a fuss.

However, it is easier to simply buy some.

[Hidden]

I'm a crap cook Daveh121. I burn water!