Corn, Rice, Millet?

[mommyto2kids]

I just read a book that said these foods may contain gluten and the author does not recommend them. Also she said to watch out for buckwheat and quinoa for cross contamination in processing? I'm so confused now. What do you think? I love millet bread.

[sa1937]

  On 8/5/2011 at 11:03 PM, mommyto2kids said:

I just read a book that said these foods may contain gluten and the author does not recommend them. Also she said to watch out for buckwheat and quinoa for cross contamination in processing? I'm so confused now. What do you think? I love millet bread.

Just curious...what book are you reading?

I use all of those things and don't have a problem with them. Of course, cross-contamination is a concern for all of us. Unless you have a specific sensitivity to any of them, I don't know why you couldn't have them. Here's a list of safe gluten-free foods.

[Takala]

What is the book, and who is the author?

I've seen some stuff by chiropractors who are making claims like that, but they were ridiculous - the actual proteins in corn, rice, and millet are very different than those of wheat. (so far.... as long as we don't get some sort of GMO frankenrice in the future....)

But there was a recent study done where grains that were being sold to consumers as naturally gluten free, but not necessarily tested or labeled, were tested, and a whopping 41% of them were found to be cross contaminated with low levels of gluten. The grains in the study included millet, buckwheat, sorghum, soy, rice, corn.

Open Original Shared Link

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Findings: Thirteen of 22 (59%) products contained below the limit of quantification for gluten which is 5 ppm for the assay used. Of these 13 products, 3 contained a voluntary allergen advisory statement for wheat. Nine of 22 (41%) products contained more than the limit of quantification for gluten, with mean gluten levels ranging from 8.5 to 2,925. Of these nine products, four contained a voluntary allergen advisory for wheat.

Conclusions: Results of this study confirm that a certain percentage of inherently gluten-free grains, seeds, and flours are NOT gluten-free when they are purchased by consumers. Co-mingling of grain and seed can occur anywhere along the line from the field to the packaging plant.

Results also suggest that consumers can not rely on voluntary allergen advisory statements for wheat to make decisions about which products are more or less likely to be contaminated.

Notice how in the link, they also said Sampling also was not large enough to make any inferences on the specific grains, flours, and seeds more or less likely to be contaminated.

the writer also said that the study was available to see on pubmed

Open Original Shared Link

They said that they did the study as a preliminary test to see what the consequences would be if the FDA finally did their rule change regarding the gluten free labeling. "Single ingredient foods such as corn, rice, and millet are considered inherently gluten free."

As we know right now, the grain may be gluten free while it's still growing in the field, but it can get cross contaminated by the harvesting, shipping, and manufacturing process if there are shared machinery.

This site also has an article on "Confusion over Codex Standards for Gluten" unfortunately the story has no date on it, (I really hate that, I don't know why bloggers and newsletter writers do that) but it appears to be fairly recent, as it is talking about the FDA considering making a rules change, which they have done twice now in the past 2 years.

Open Original Shared Link

At that time (???) the US was considering drafting the rule to be similar to the International Codex Standard label for gluten free, but not exactly the same.

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The new official (International, not the US, which doesn't have it yet) Codex standard is now called,

[Skylark]

My personal choice is to buy my flours from Bob's Red Mill, who tests them for gluten CC. I just sort through whole grains like buckwheat and millet because you can find anything that looks different. I haven't ever seen wheat in rice, probably because they growing conditions are so different. Wheat would drown in a rice paddy.

[mommyto2kids]

Celiac Disease: Safe/Unsafe Food List and Essential Infornation On Living A Gluten Free Diet is the name of it. My husband bought it on Kindle. Some parts seen good and some seem extreme. She thinks the makeup of corn and rice has trace amounts of gluten in a protein and millet she says she doesn't know and all the studies were old on millet. But accorning to her, it is not on the safe list nor corn or rice.

Some of her cross contamination would make sense. But then how do you suggest we get quinoa or buckwheat? Can we not buy in bulk bin? This diet is financially killing us already. And we like bulk bin. Who knows how they test or process from Winco bulk bins? Do you shop from bulk bins? What do you think?

[sa1937]

  On 8/6/2011 at 4:05 PM, mommyto2kids said:

Celiac Disease: Safe/Unsafe Food List and Essential Infornation On Living A Gluten Free Diet is the name of it. My husband bought it on Kindle. Some parts seen good and some seem extreme. She thinks the makeup of corn and rice has trace amounts of gluten in a protein and millet she says she doesn't know and all the studies were old on millet. But accorning to her, it is not on the safe list nor corn or rice.

Some of her cross contamination would make sense. But then how do you suggest we get quinoa or buckwheat? Can we not buy in bulk bin? This diet is financially killing us already. And we like bulk bin. Who knows how they test or process from Winco bulk bins? Do you shop from bulk bins? What do you think?

Well, I think she's wrong. Yes, there is gluten in other grains (from what I understand) but it is NOT the kind of gluten that's in the grains we must avoid like wheat, barley and rye. Oats is iffy if it's not certified gluten-free and there are some celiacs who simply cannot tolerate oats even then.

I buy Ancient Harvest quinoa, which is marked gluten-free on the package. Don't know what brand of millet or buckwheat flour I have. I usually buy Bob's Red Mill as it's readily available in stores where I live.

You couldn't pay me enough to buy from a bulk bin as that's where cross-contamination is very likely to occur.

ETA: I just want to add that it is possible to be sensitive to certain items even though they are safe for most of us.

[domesticactivist]

We avoid all grains, but not because they have gluten. My son is allergic to corn. We also experienced what was either cross contamination or cross-reactivity with some other alternative grains. For example, buckwheat, which is not actually a grain at all, gave my son and me the exact same symptoms as gluten. Research led us to the GAPS diet which eliminates all grains.

Additionally, a Open Original Shared Link published in the Journal of the American Diatetic Association has recently found contamination rampant in alternative grains. Check out this blog post for a nice summary: Open Original Shared Link

I think the chances of contamination can be reduced by rinsing and soaking alternate grains before using them.

[mommyto2kids]

Thanks so much for answering my questions. Sylvia is you reason for not using bulk bins bcause the scoop could cross contaminate? I had not thought of that. Is it in the milling process? How about the bins where they don't have a scoop, but you pour the stuff from above, so poeple can't get into it? Is that any better? Sylvia do you think then that boxed is completely safe? I'm still learning.

[domesticactivist]

I think the top loading ones are a bit better, but you are still taking a risk because the staff fill them up. I've seen staff take a scoop from granola and then use it to put almonds in an overhead bulk bin.

[sa1937]

  On 8/6/2011 at 6:27 PM, mommyto2kids said:

Thanks so much for answering my questions. Sylvia is you reason for not using bulk bins bcause the scoop could cross contaminate? I had not thought of that. Is it in the milling process? How about the bins where they don't have a scoop, but you pour the stuff from above, so poeple can't get into it? Is that any better? Sylvia do you think then that boxed is completely safe? I'm still learning.

I think the risk of cross-contamination is too great. In the case of scoops, what if someone scooped up wheat or barley and then dipped the same scoop into your rice? Of what if the bin that you pour the stuff from first contained wheat and then the store did not clean it out thoroughly and then put rice in it the next time around? Or is it even possible to clean it thoroughly?

We take chances every time we buy something whether it's boxed or bulk. We can try to be as careful as possible and I think there's still a small risk...or at least a smaller risk.

I just wouldn't take any chances that I could possibly avoid. And I try not to be too paranoid about it. Hey, we're all still learning!

[Takala]

"Gluten" is the word for protein in grain, but as to "gluten free," here in the USA, and other places as to a gluten free diet, we mean the protein from wheat, rye, barley, spelt.

Corn, rice, and millet has proteins which are technically called gluten, but they are not "GLUTEN" like the glutens in the wheat family. They are different. They don't cause a celiac auto immune reaction. They can accidentally get run thru or stored with wheat or barley or the other stuff, and then that is called cross contamination. If you have a harvester running a combine thru wheat, and then cornfields, that is one example. Those giant storage grain silo bins you see in farm pictures are another.

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But then how do you suggest we get quinoa or buckwheat? Can we not buy in bulk bin? This diet is financially killing us already. And we like bulk bin. Who knows how they test or process from Winco bulk bins? Do you shop from bulk bins? What do you think?

Mail order, in larger bulk quantities. Have you ever watched how they reload those bulk bins ? Have you ever seen people taking scoops from one food and using it in another ? Have you ever watched people handling the scoops then stick the ENTIRE scoop back in the bin instead of in the little scoop holder ? Where have their hands been last, at McDonald's? The containers and scoops are made of plastic, and they may be cleaned every once in a while, but they don't have any protocol to prevent allergies or cross contamination and they probably switch foods around it them all the time.

You can also get a coffee grinder and grind buckwheat kasha kernels into flour easily. You can then use it as part of the gluten free flours mixtures, mixing it with less expensive kinds to save money. If you bake a lot, you may want to get a grain grinder from Lehman's mail order and start ordering gluten free grains in large bags. You may have to work out a way to store it so it does not spoil- we ended up with an extra, little refrigerator, and I freeze stuff to kill any bugs first, then store it in that. In a warm climate, it's the humans vs. the insects.... this stuff is too expensive to feed it to them.

[krystynycole]

  On 8/5/2011 at 11:03 PM, mommyto2kids said:

I just read a book that said these foods may contain gluten and the author does not recommend them. Also she said to watch out for buckwheat and quinoa for cross contamination in processing? I'm so confused now. What do you think? I love millet bread.

I eat both of these without an issue. I can see there being a cc issue, but I can see this issue no matter what food you eat when it is processed in a factory that is not dedicated gluten-free.