Scott Adams' June 27, 1999 Post Regarding Oats, Gluten-Free Grains & Cross-Contamination

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Scott Adams' June 27, 1999 Post Regarding Oats,

Gluten-Free Grains and Cross-Contamination

 

 

 

I am always amused by the argument that one grain or another is more

likely to be contaminated than another, as I believe the real source of

danger for contamination is found at mills and processing plants, and is

more or less spread out equally for most gluten-free grains.

 

Oats are often cited as having a higher chance of cross-contamination

with wheat than other grains because it is often a rotational crop with

wheat or barley, and kernels of these gluten-containing grains

occasionally get mixed with the non-gluten grains.

 

I do not understand why the same people who make this claim do not also

include soy in this category, as it is one of the crops that is most

commonly " rotated " with wheat.

 

In any case, from the knowledge that I have gathered over the years

about farming and processing grains, I must say that with most grains

there is little likelihood of contamination due to the mixing of two

different whole grains (i.e., the rotational crop hypothesis).

 

This is due to the different sizes and shapes of different grains, and

the machines which sort them after a harvest. If any grains do get mixed

together the amount of actual contamination would likely be extremely

low.

 

In Trevor Pizzey's (Vice President of Operations for Can-Oat Milling)

October 30, 1998 letter he expresses his belief that celiacs should

avoid oats because he finds between 2.1 and 4.1 kernels of barley or

wheat in every 4,000 (0.0525% and 0.1025% respectively).

 

He says that this level can legally go up to a maximum level of 10

kernels per 4,000 (0.25%).

 

In either of these scenarios we are talking about very low amounts. Even

at these amounts the likelihood that a celiac eating these grains would

eat 1 or 2 kernels of wheat or barley on a given day would be very, very

low.

 

Also, since most people who eat oatmeal tend to eat the whole oatmeal

as a hot cereal, which means they can take very simple additional

precautions to make their chances of eating any kernels of wheat or

barley practically zero.

 

The obvious way to do this is to look at the oats before you eat them

or mill them and pull out any kernels that are of non-oat type.

 

Now we turn to the other part of the argument to scare people away from

grains that, taken by themselves, do not cause harm to people with

celiac disease.

 

This is the " wheat dust in the mill (or during transport, or somewhere

else) argument. " There are many reasons, both health and safety, why

mills take steps to keep dust levels down. Dust contamination is still

possible, but I think we are also talking about even lower amounts that

we were with the occasional kernel of wheat that pops up in oats,

although there is no data that I know of to back this up.

 

I think with whole oats (i.e., oatmeal) people can reduce any possible

risk of wheat-dust contamination to almost zero by rinsing off their

oats well with water before cooking or milling them.

 

The famous oat study that was done in Finland and published in the NEJM

used a source of " non-contaminated " oats to eliminate any possible

factors that could ruin the results of their long and expensive study.

 

It is possible that they could have used regular, uncontrolled " Quaker

oats " for their study and gotten the same results, but again, the

reasons for not doing so were to eliminate any possible factors that

might affect the results of their study. This is the scientific process,

and it is important with any study to eliminate any possible factors

which could affect the outcome of the study.

 

Last, there is a danger of contamination which comes from unclean

equipment at mills, and at processing plants. This danger is present

with any gluten-free grain, bean, etc., that is milled using the same

equipment as is used to mill a gluten-containing grain.

 

In other words we cannot speak of only oats with regard to this issue,

as rice flour, soy flour, etc., could be contaminated equally in this

way.

 

Aside from legislation to require cleaning between milling runs, those

who are worried about this need to buy flours from mills which they have

researched and found to be gluten-free, or ones that adequately clean

their equipment between runs.

 

I think " contamination " issues are real, but need to be put in

perspective with regard to other, perhaps more important issues, like

labeling laws and getting agreement between the major celiac

organizations in this country with regard to which grains are safe.

 

 

Moderator's Note: In order to completely avoid any contamination with

other grains, it is imperative that we use only organic oats to ensure

the high quality of our foods.

 

See Also:

Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Dec. 1997 v97n12p1413(4).

" Do oats belong in a gluten-free diet? " by Tricia Thompson.

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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