What People with Celiac Disease Should Know About Wheat Starch

In 1998 I traveled to Helsinki, Sweden, Copenhagen and enjoyed gluten free pastries made with gluten-free wheat starch.  It was only for 7 days BUT I did  not have any ill effects.  The food/pastries were so good. I also had a Burger King hamburger with gluten-free bun.  Upon return to the US it was back to the same dry or crumbly products.  Hope the issue of wheat starch gets resolved as the baking results are worth it. 

They are now using it to make American gluten-free products, and Di Giorno's new frozen gluten-free pizzas use it.

Is the proof in the pudding?-(or whatever food product contains wheat starch)--as you correctly point out wheat starch has been allowed in gluten free foods in Europe for many years and there are numerous studies showing no adverse short or long term effects in celiacs ingesting it regularly--but wheat starch IS a hydrolyzed product of wheat ,obviously not gluten free, and thus NOT meeting the FDA definition of gluten free BEFORE fermentation or hydrolysis, yet the FDA does not recognize wheat starch to be a fermented or hydrolyzed food and is approved by the FDA to be allowed in gluten free foods-??---how do they reconcile this---what is the basis for their approval---is it based on the European experience and data---I have never found the answer to this---on the other hand BEER is a fermented and hydolyzed product of BARLEY also not gluten free but not allowed to be labeled gluten free even after processes are used to "detoxify" the barley---gluten removed beers ---and even after testing to show that such beers contain less than 20ppm of gluten-the FDA counters that such analyses to check for gluten in beer are not reliable-(remember OMISSION brand beer!)---which certainly may be true---but why OK for wheat starch? I have been told that Europeans are more liberal with even regular beer for celiacs---that the brewing process sufficiently removes most of the gluten-!?-When I was with THE CELIAC SUPPORT ASSOCIATION(CSA) that organization was strongly opposed to wheat starch despite the European data----I guess this will remain a personal and individual decision

It is my understanding that in Europe, Codex quality wheat start does not use hydrolyzation. As the article mentions:

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Wheat starch is an allowed ingredient in foods labeled gluten-free as long as its use does not result in the final food product containing 20 parts per million or more of gluten. The FDA clarified the rule to require food manufacturers to ensure that products containing fermented, hydrolyzed ingredients meet the definition of “gluten-free” before fermentation or hydrolysis.