Gluten-Free News: Hamburger Helper, Frito Lay, California Pizza Kitchen, Celiac Vaccine, Petitions, and a Twitter Party

If you like gluten-free Hamburger Helper, stock up before it is gone. In an email posted on Celiac-Disease.com, General Mills states that it will no longer be gluten-free.

"Essentially, our three Helpers items, Hamburger Helper Cheesy Hashbrown, Asian Helper Chicken Fried Rice and Asian Helper Beef Fried Rice will soon no longer be gluten free. 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."

Also on Celiac-Disease.com, you can find the new Frito Lay gluten-free list. It appears that they now have a larger list of products that they test for gluten.

At the end of June, California Pizza Kitchen will be adding a gluten-free pizza crust. For more information, read this Gluten-Free Philly blog post.

There are promising results for a celiac vaccine as explained in ScienceDaily this week. The Phase I trial of Nexvax2 was conducted in Australia. The Phase II trial is expected to begin in 10 months.

Please take a few minutes to sign these two important gluten-free petitions.

Encourage the Girl Scouts to sell an allergen-free cookie

Encourage the FDA to finalize gluten-free labeling rules
For a detailed recap of the 1in133 event and how they built the world's largest gluten-free cake, read Jules Shepard's new blog post.

On Wednesday, May 25 at 8 pm ET, the US Potato Board will host a gluten-free twitter party and will offer five prizes. The US Potato Board created a new gluten-free recipe collection, which includes 80 recipes, such as gluten-free potato lasagna.

Finding Gluten-Free Support on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, and Forums

Whether you or a family member are new to gluten-free life or have been gluten-free for years, social networking sites offer invaluable gluten-free support. You likely already discovered the plethora of gluten-free blogs and websites and may be overwhelmed by too much information.

With gluten-free social networking, it is easiest to start with what you know. For example, if you are on Facebook and using it to connect with former classmates, it will be easy for you to like some gluten-free Facebook pages and add gluten-free friends. If you are already using LinkedIn for professional reasons, you can join gluten-free groups there.

My recommendation is to join at least one national/international celiac forum, a local celiac support group, and Twitter. If you are only joining one forum, I suggest the Celiac Listserv. I belong to the DC Celiac Yahoo group, which is a fantastic local resource that even has an extensive restaurant database.

These articles from my Gluten-Free Social Media Tips blog provide information on social networking as well as many links to help you get started.

10 Reasons to Tweet Gluten-Free

Gluten-Free Tweeting 101: Follow These Easy Steps

Top 10 Gluten-Free Facebook Fan Pages

Discover LinkedIn Groups

Ning Makes Gluten-Free Social Networking Easy

Popular Gluten-Free Forums

Unless you are a blogger, gluten-free professional, or social media specialist, don’t go overboard joining everything here. Each one requires time and effort to get the most out of it. No matter how many Facebook pages I like and create, I still find myself on Twitter daily, spending less time on Facebook. If you have a question or need assistance, post a comment below or tweet me @MarylandCeliac.

My New Gluten-Free Blog and Lessons Learned

Back in November, I had the idea to start a new gluten-free blog to help build my career in freelance writing and social media as well as to share my knowledge. Instead of linking it to this blog and using my name, I thought it would be interesting to do it anonymously for a few months to see how easy or difficult it is now to start a new gluten-free blog and get blog traffic.

On my new blog I identified myself as being from the Mid-Atlantic and provided a description of myself.

“I am a freelance writer, Examiner, and a gluten-free product reviewer, who uses social media daily. I blog frequently at a popular gluten-free blog I started one year ago.”

I chose a blog template that looks completely different than the Gluten Free Optimist. I used a dark background and header tabs. I quickly learned that header tabs are much easier in Wordpress.

Perhaps you followed gfsocialmedia on Twitter or Facebook, became a fan on my Facebook page, or joined the bloggers group I started on Gluten-Free Faces. Are you surprised?

I quickly got many Twitter followers and 34 fans on my Facebook page, but sadly, no followers on my blog and still not much traffic. The biggest obstacle I ran into was that despite several emails I was not added to the Gluten-Free Aggregrator. Mike assures me I will be eventually added, however he is so busy with life changes, that he simply can’t keep up. So, for people starting a new gluten-free blog in a time when the web is already flooded with gluten-free, patience, persistence, and connections are essential.

Visit my new blog, Gluten-Free Social Media Tips. Please become a follower, subscribe via email, become a fan on Facebook, and share your comments!

Recap: General Mills Gluten-Free Twitter Party

It was wonderful seeing so many people at the General Mills gluten-free Twitter party last night, especially people newly diagnosed with celiac disease and those new to twitter. The party was organized by @foodallergybuzz and @bestallergysite for General Mills. I enjoyed being a panelist, along with @glutenfreedee and the two General Mills employees.

In addition to many bloggers, @larabar and @BettyCrocker attended. There were also international guests: @GFLifeIreland and several people in Canada, including @AllergicLiving magazine. GF Life magazine, the first gluten-free magazine in Ireland, will be launching in February 2010. When I tweeted that I like the new peanut butter and jelly Larabar, about ten people tweeted that they also like it. Larabar said it is a favorite at their office.

Over 100 people RSVP’d for the party. There were approximately 1,300 tweets during the party, which lasted for about two hours, instead of the scheduled one hour. During that time, I surprisingly did 131 tweets. All of the tweets from the #glutenfreely party can still be read on Twapper Keeper. I use Tweet Grid during twitter parties and find it generally works well. It automatically adds the party hashtag to tweets.

Most people probably didn’t realize that General Mills provided me with several of the conversation questions that I asked during the party. It is great to know that General Mills cares about us sharing gluten-free tips on a variety of topics and wants to know what new products we would like to see. There were many great ideas, including eggrolls, carrot cake mix, sugar cookie mix, ready to bake cinnamon rolls, croissants, biscuits, Bisquick, frozen pot stickers, tasty lower calorie food, petit fours, and wonton soup. General Mills also provided trivia questions, and five prize packs were given away.

General Mills announced that more products will be added to their Live Gluten Freely website in the middle of February. "Look for frosting and soup, green giant vegetables and more yoplait!" There is a General Mills gluten-free product locator and a new recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookie cheesecake on the Betty Crocker website. Subscribe to the General Mills gluten-free newsletter and join their Facebook fan page.

Follow me on Twitter and follow my Twitter list of 110 gluten-free bloggers and Examiners.

Invitation to the General Mills Gluten-Free Twitter Party

I am so pleased to announce that I was selected to be a panelist at the General Mills gluten-free twitter party on January 14, 2010 at 7pm EST. "The first 50 people to RSVP will receive a coupon to try the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Dessert Mixes for free!" There will also be prizes during the party! Chat with other panel members, including Gluten-Free Dee and two General Mills employees.

"Gluten Free in the New Year: Even Easier than Before

Ring in the New Year with a little help from your friends!

Join us for our latest Twitter Party as we discuss living gluten free. We’ll cover a host of topics including how to find great gluten free foods, new and exciting gluten free recipes and products, and how living gluten free is easier than ever!"

View the party invitation and RSVP now! Don't miss the great new General Mills gluten-free website.