Contaminated Rice Protein?

[Laura]

A friend just sent me this:

> From the Sacramento Bee:

>

>> Rice protein is an insoluble, talcum powderlike substance that is

>> refined from a rice byproduct. California Natural Products, in

>> Lathrop, is the only U.S. producer, according to John Ashby, the

>> company's general manager for ingredients.

>>

>> Rice protein is not just a pet food additive. It is used in many

>> grocery food items marketed as "wheat-free" or "gluten-free," Ashby

>> said, and demand from U.S. companies exceeds his firm's ability to

>> produce it. As a result, Ashby said many firms "without question"

>> import rice protein from China. His company once considered importing

>> rice protein but felt it could not count on the China-sourced product

>> to be reliably pure.

>

> From Open Original Shared Link :

>

>> Royal Canin has discovered a new contaminant in rice gluten. This

>> contaminant is cyanuric acid, which is chemically related to, but

>> distinct from, melamine.

>

> Cyanuric acid is a component of the stuff used to chlorinate swimming

> pools.

Has anyone heard anything else about this? Is it for sure, or just speculative? What products might be affected, and over what time period (that is, a baking mix I'd had on my shelf for 6 weeks would probably be fine, right)?

[Juliebove]

The tainted rice protein was found in pet food. More recently, tainted corn gluten was found in pet food. AFAIK it has not been found in any food for human consumption.

[ravenwoodglass]

As if I needed another reason to push for whole, fresh naturally gluten free food. As far as anyone is telling us it is not in the 'people' food supply. As far as we know, now. They used this chemical to artifically raise the protein level of these so that on tests it would appear to contain more protein and thus be sold at a higher price.

We may have the FDA here but many of our farmers are paid not to grow foodstuffs for our country. It is cheaper to import from others, like China. A great deal of our processed foods contain ingredients from other countries who don't have an FDA. An excellent reason to stick with processed items that have 4 or less ingredients on the list.

[RiceGuy]

From what I understand, such processing to derive proteins often means MSG will be in the finished product. I'm glad I make everything from scratch.