Modified Corn Starch

[Elizabeth]

I frequently see modified corn starch listed as an ingredient. Is this allowed? How is it modified?

[gf4life]

You should check with each individual company to find out what is added to their "modified corn starch", sometimes it is modified with wheat, but not always. That is what makes it a questionable ingredient.

God bless,

Mariann

[Kim]

I was under the impression that in the US it can't be modified with wheat or it would have to list as modified food starch. I was under the impression that all modified corn starch is Gluten Free. In fact, in the US, it is cheaper to use corn rather than wheat so most modified food starch is actually corn based, and gluten free, but when it is listed as modified food starch, you should call to ask.

Kim.

[lovegrov]

I'll have to agree with Kim on this one. Modified corn starch is gluten-free. It is NOT a suspect ingredient.

richard

[simonsmama]

I wonder the same thing about modified corn starch but primarily because it was in a food I gave my son who is celiac and he reacted. Hmmm....maybe it was something else in it that he reacted to?

[xabsx]

I was under the impression that in the US it can't be modified with wheat or it would have to list as modified food starch. I was under the impression that all modified corn starch is Gluten Free. In fact, in the US, it is cheaper to use corn rather than wheat so most modified food starch is actually corn based, and gluten free, but when it is listed as modified food starch, you should call to ask.

Kim.

Kim,

This is true. I am very sensitive to gluten of any kind and modified corn starch does not have gluten in it. It is purely corn starch modified, which means it may have a chemical or something in it which is like another ingredient to thicken it. It is not a big deal, compared to most of the semi raw chemicals most of us are consuming every day. So after all my blabbing, modified corn starch is gluten free. The thing you really have to watch out for is modified food starch. I don't know about any one else, but it makes me sick within hours and sometimes thirty to forty- five minutes.

Angie

[Takala]

Note: this is an old thread started from 2004.

In the United States, we found out in the past that it is easy for a company to import ingredients for food manufacturing without verifying just what is really in them, so never assume that anything is %100 "safe" just because of the label. In China, the words "corn" and "wheat" gluten proteins can be interchangeable in their wholesale marketing.

I eat corn. I also have had enough mystery reactions, now and then, to products with "modified food starches" that were supposed to be perfectly safe, via what I read on the label that was supposed to call out any wheat family ingredients, that I don't trust it completely. Corn starch is safe, as long as the corn was not cross contaminated with wheat, rye, or barley. You can purchase corn starch that is tested to be gluten free, and it is used in a lot of gluten free baking.

[psawyer]

Kim,

This is true. I am very sensitive to gluten of any kind and modified corn starch does not have gluten in it. It is purely corn starch modified, which means it may have a chemical or something in it which is like another ingredient to thicken it. It is not a big deal, compared to most of the semi raw chemicals most of us are consuming every day. So after all my blabbing, modified corn starch is gluten free. The thing you really have to watch out for is modified food starch. I don't know about any one else, but it makes me sick within hours and sometimes thirty to forty- five minutes.

Angie

In the US, modified food starch is typically corn or tapioca. If corn doesn't give you a problem, but you react to modified food starch, consider a tapioca issue. If the modified food starch was from wheat, it would have to say clearly on the label that there was wheat present.

And, yes, most of this topic is from the dark days of 2004, prior to FALCPA.