Is wheat glucose suitable for coeliacs?

[jan44]

Just bought my usual fruit fool from waitrose, had a mouthful and spotted the words 'wheat glucose' on the ingredients list. Doesn't show gluten as an allergen in the separate allergen box. Just looked on their website says the product is suitable for those avoiding gluten!

I noticed before xmas that a lot of the ham products I wanted to buy also had wheat glucose on the ingredients list so I didn't buy them. Is this supermarket a bit more switched on than others with their labelling or should all products with glucose in state the origin of the glucose?

Perhaps someone could shed some light on this please.

[boo16]

Personally I would avoid it. I take the view that not all icecream is gluten free and it usually is the once that contain wheat glucose that state that they are not gluten free. I don't eat much icecream so it is not a problem but I do avoid products that contain wheat glucose just in case, although Coeliac UK state that they are safe owing to the minute amount of gluten that is left after processing. I think it is a case of personal choice.

[Lynxcat]

Hi Jan, I too would avoid anything that is derived from wheat, barley, oats or rye. In truth, syrups made from these four gluten grains will most probably only contain up to 20ppm of gluten once they have been processed and for those in Australia and New Zealand this will be as little as up to 5ppm.

It is in the end a personal choice.

[Eggardon]

Ice cream! Try swedishglace.com/ the vanilla one is in Morrisons. Yum!

[Hidden]

Just to clarify a point here.

Wheat derivatives do not have to be labelled as such in the Eu. This is because they are highly refined and within the codex level of gluten free (20ppm)

So it is down to legislation and the codex level. Some countries have tighter legislation and wheat derivatives have to labelled as exactly that.

[jan44 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you all for your replies, this is the first time I had seen wheat mentioned in the ingredients list of this product. Bearing in mind it is british I was wondering whether something had changed in the labelling rules that meant 'wheat' derivatives now had to be pointed out on labels. On restropect I think the ham I had mentioned actually said 'wheat dextrose'. I can only assume that such products are over the 20ppm limit although I don't get why it would be suitable for those avoiding gluten?

[Hidden in reply to jan44]

Hi Jan, some supermarkets own brand gf food lists contain malted breakfast cereals that are below codex and they point out that these products have contain gluten on the package but are suitable for coeliac.

I would suspect that dextrose or glucose derived from wheat would be well below 20ppm hence why they are classed as suitable for coeliac.

It can be complicated when it comes down to levels of gluten below codex and I think the manufacturer is covering them selves by being informative.

Personally I find labelling like this off putting but I am very sensitive to gluten regardless of whether it is below codex. And I hope this helps.

[Lynxcat in reply to Hidden]

I too have in the past found some appear to be all right whilst others have affected me badly so now I avoid all. I also found that a brand could be tolerated on one occasion only to cause problems next time that I bought it.

[Hidden]

As pointed out in Australia wheat glucose is quite ok. Very low levels due to the amount of processing of the ingredient. I have heard of no problems at all.

[LHine]

I've been glutened by dextrose before, and, separately, bu ice cream, although I couldn't get the ingredients to read them (in a restaurant).