14 replies to this topic

[JodiC]

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked already but I don't get on too often. What is the deal with Wheat Starch in foods? Is it safe for us or not? I noticed that alot of previously safe food have now added this but do not claim the wheat in the allergen label.

[blueeyedmanda]

Hi,
Wheat starch is bad....sorry.

[cruelshoes]

http://www.csaceliac...uten_grains.php

WHEAT starch By-product of WHEAT processing. Cannot be guaranteed to be 100% gluten-free. Sometimes added to food items during processing. No form of WHEAT starch is considered appropriate for a zero tolerance level gluten-free diet in the United States and Canada. Codex WHEAT starch is considered gluten-free by some foreign governments. Gluten level must be 200ppm or less to be labeled as Codex WHEAT Starch [Europe].

[gfp]

BAD BAD BAD ....


Food grade wheat starch is not particularly pure... its just what washes away from the wheat and bits of gluten get carried along and its 'food' so its not really important. I have had reactions to the much purer pharmaceutical grade wheat starch... used in some tablets as a binder/filler let alone food grade.

[larry mac]

.... What is the deal with Wheat Starch in foods? ....

Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cereal box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

[gfp]

Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cerial box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

I guess its just short cut... and extremely cheap as its essentially a waste product.

I have to admit though, sometimes it FEELS like they just throw it in for good measure...

[blueeyedmanda]

Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cerial box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

I know....that bugs me! I get all happy looking at cereal and then at the end....I walk away disappointed

[JodiC]

So they don't have to list it in the allergen warnings? Is it because it is listed in the ingredients? I'm so sick of these food companies messing up food. Additives, fillers, flavorings, etc........I'm tired of the fakeness of it all.

[ravenwoodglass]

Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cereal box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

They do that so they can say the cereal is 'multigrain' cause that is sooooo very good for us.

[cruelshoes]

So they don't have to list it in the allergen warnings? Is it because it is listed in the ingredients?

Companies are not required to have an allergen warning per-se. They are, however, required to include the "big 8" somewhere on their ingredient statement if it is added to the product. They can do this one of 2 ways:

In the list of ingredients, put the name of the food source of the major food allergen in parenthesis after the common or usual name of the ingredient when that name does not already appear in the ingredient statement.

-or-

Immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, put the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food for each of the major food allergens present in the food’s ingredients.

Source: http://www.fns.usda....enFactSheet.pdf

I know how sad it is to pick up a new box of cereal and get ALMOST to the end of the ingredient list before finding the wheat or malt or whatever.

Pick up box
Turn wrist
read ingredients
yes yes yes yes yes yes! yes! no
Put back on shelf

[NorthernElf]

Yep, wheat starch is bad.

I LOVE Tera chips - but watch out for the Mediterranean ones ! I glutened myself a couple of weeks ago at Costco. I bought what I thought was regular Tera chips and scarfed done a couple of handfuls driving to another store. Ugh - it was quick enough for me to check the ingredients when I stopped and there it was - wheat starch.

Hello gut cramps, sinus pain, etc.

Isn't a terrible feeling to know you just ate some wheat and knowing that shortly you're going to be feeling ill ?!?!??!??!

[hathor]

Companies are not required to have an allergen warning per-se. They are, however, required to include the "big 8" somewhere on their ingredient statement if it is added to the product. They can do this one of 2 ways:

In the list of ingredients, put the name of the food source of the major food allergen in parenthesis after the common or usual name of the ingredient when that name does not already appear in the ingredient statement.

-or-

Immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, put the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food for each of the major food allergens present in the food’s ingredients.

Source: http://www.fns.usda....enFactSheet.pdf

I know how sad it is to pick up a new box of cereal and get ALMOST to the end of the ingredient list before finding the wheat or malt or whatever.

Pick up box
Turn wrist
read ingredients
yes yes yes yes yes yes! yes! no
Put back on shelf

Remember that barley, rye and oats aren't in the big eight, only wheat is. So gluten can be hidden in "flavors," "colors" and such.

Also, the allergen labeling regulation currently only applies to food regulated by the FDA. Food regulated by the USDA has no such regulation yet. They've talked of making a consistent rule, but they haven't even started the rulemaking yet from what I can tell. They were only asked to do this over two years ago. People who eat USDA food (about everyone on this board, but not me ) need to know that they can't rely on FDA labeling regulations that do not apply to that food.

[Huntress]

I find the topic of wheat starch confusing given the following statement in this research publication. (It would appear that the researchers considered the wheat-starch based bread as gluten-free.):

Gluten-Free Bread from Sorghum: Quality Differences Among Hybrids

Tilman J. Schober,1–3 Manuela Messerschmidt,1,4 Scott R. Bean,5 Seok-Ho Park,5 and Elke K. Arendt1

...Substantially higher specific volumes were reported for gluten-free breads from wheat starch and soy protein
isolate plus xanthan gum (4.6 mL/g, Ranhotra et al 1975)...

http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/54300510/Publication-2005/2005%20-%20Gluten-free%20Bread%20from%20Sorghum.pdf

[JNBunnie1]

It's likely this research was done in a country where the govermnment has decreed wheat starch below a certain gluten ppm threshold is considered acceptable to a gluten free diet. Many of the residents of said countries would disagree.