Is the following statement true or false? Gluten free foods are “Foods made from grains (and grain-like plants) that do not contain harmful gluten, including: Corn in all forms (corn flour, corn meal, grits, etc.). Rice in all forms (white, brown, basmati and enriched rice). Also amaranth, buckwheat (kasha), Montina, millet, quinoa, tef, sorghum and soy.”
It is true if and only if there is no co-mingling of these grains with gluten grains ANYWHERE in the processing of the grains from the field to the grocery store to the table. The above statement is very misleading to the new gluten free traveller. Based on the above statement, the unwary shopper is now celebrating that the corn chips she loves is gluten free. She rushes out to get some only to be sick for a week. Some diligent detective work reveals that the corn is processed in a mill that also mills wheat and to make matters worse the chips are fried in oil also used to fry gluten containing foods. REMEMBER: A grain is absolutely gluten free if and only if the company has batch tested it for gluten. This strict rule I apply hard and fast to grains since the likelihood of cross contamination is so high with grains. It only takes a few parts per million to signal your immune system that gluten is present. So beware, be very aware. You could end up in the Jabberwocky den with Alice. Answer: true and false. It all depends.
Staying on the right path,
Margery
Good article!
It is so hard to find foods that really are gluten free and I don’t always trust the producers to check.
I, therefore make all my own foods where ever possible and when I buy something, I check and double-check with the manufacturer (you will quite often get a different person answering your query the second time and although I like to think people care, you might get someone on the other end of the line who can’t be bothered to check)
Am I paranoid? You betcha’ when it comes to my food.