Rice syrup?

Does anyone know anything about Rice syrup? having googled it I find that it can come from enzymes from Barley, any more info would be helpful

[Irene Administrator]

Tony - the gluten beware approach is required for this product as well. All would be purchasers should read rice syrup labels carefully. Many producers culture the enzymes needed to make rice syrup on grains which contain gluten. Unless the label clearly specifies that the product is gluten free, it should be assumed that the food contains gluten. Although it may only be present in trace amounts, as we well know, it can be enough to upset a delicate stomach. If it don't say 'gluten free' don't buy.

[Hidden in reply to Irene]

My big problem it is a "Gluten free" product but it is as I have now found out not suitable for me.

"Gluten Free" is fine for most but there are those that it is not safe for and it is these coeliac's who ae suffering because of misleading information.

[Hidden in reply to Irene]

Until Oats were deemed as gf I used to see the label gf as just that and safe for me. On the other hand if a food says 'suitable for coeliac' I see that as a warning and avoid it. This is because Pringles coat their crisps in wheat starch but because wheat starch is low in gluten it is still below codex they can make this claim. Walkers use wheat derivatives to flavour their crisps and they say suitable for coeliac and conatin wheat. The same applies to pickles like Branston pickle which contains barley malt.

So I am obviously less sensitive to gluten than you Tony and I think that oats displaying the crossed grain symbol and stating 100% gf is very missleading. Oats came about by crossing wheat with rye and contain avenins which's a gluten like protein but in a much smaller quantity than gluten in wheat so if a coeliac can tolerate wheat starch they can tolerate uncontaminated oats. Coeliac are recomended to introduce oats slowly and not to eat more than 50g in 24 hrs and this does not sound like its 100% safe for coeliac to me.

Fortunately I do not eat crisps and I do not eat processed foods very often but I do worry about the labelling laws and think that the labellling laws are for the benefit of the food manufacturer and not the coeliac. Because suitable for coeliac should mean that I feel safe to eat it rather than see it as a warning to avoid it!

Jerry

[FionaGFG Administrator in reply to Irene]

Good point Jerry. I notice that now that many producers are working towards 20ppm (for 2012) that the 'suitable for coeliacs' or 'gluten free' labelling is fast disappearing. When I rang Patak sauces customer care team they confirmed

a) the recipe was the same

b) they have not changed the production method at all

c) yet due to the new law they can't label it as gluten free anymore - so it seems it was 200pm and they now are either confused about the new labelling laws (most of the ingredients were gf anyway) or can't afford to get it checked and confirmed as 20ppm and less. I'm concerned that the new law whilst good in the sense that ppm will become more universal across Europe will mean that there will be less choice for Coeliacs as many companies will find it too tricky to re-brand, test their products and get the 'crossed grain' seal of approval as gluten free. Hence GFGs campaign arm - and plans to expand our online presence this year.

All in all I agree the labelling laws are confusing. Even from supermarket to supermarket they vary. I pity older Coeliacs whose eyesight is waning. I know that my friends and family often give up and just throw packets/ food at me to read as they've had enough squinting at the list or don't know what the hidden forms of gluten can be (aka barley, soy sauce etc). Don't get me started on 'produced in a factory that handles wheat' either...!

[Hidden in reply to Irene]

Hi Fiona, you said :

I'm concerned that the new law whilst good in the sense that ppm will become more universal across Europe will mean that there will be less choice for Coeliacs as many companies will find it too tricky to re-brand, test their products and get the 'crossed grain' seal of approval as gluten free.

This is an opinion felt by many coeliac and I think that we should look at countries that already have 20ppm and see how they cope. Because at the end of the day we live in a capitalist society and money talks and food companies want our buisiness.

I think this is a valid point but whose best interests is 20ppm in? the coeliac consumer, so I think that its an empty argument but understandable.

I have a copy of the coeliac magazine for coeliac in Australia dated 2005 and they warn coeliac to be careful when visiting the Eu because of 200ppm and gave an example of an Ozzy coeliac eating codex pasta in an Italy and being ill.

Made in a factory that handles wheat, now is this a cop out for poor hygeine? Doves fram is a well known maker of gf flours and yet their mills are in the same building. This is why they have contamination problems sometimes. But they go to the trouble of testing their products and they keep them below 20ppm. This I think shows what can be done because gluten is bound to be airborne in a mill. Gluten is a plant protein and not in the atmosphere normally because it is much to heavy so to me the statement made with gf ingredients in a factory that produces wheat is very frustrating because we the coeliac are in a lose lose situation because we are going to be wary when eating it and if we are ill they can say we told you so. This is where I think that coeliac should be pro-active and these companies should be told to cater for coeliac or we and our families will boycott ALL their products. This to me is an area that CUK do not support the coeliac community. For instance Kellogs make cereals in other countries and do not add malt to an otherwise gf product, I have written to Kellogs asking them to import the gf ones for us but they are not interested but imagine if CUK got its members to lobby Kellogs and their friends and families didnt buy any crunchy nut cornflakes for a month.

Taking this a step further coeliac should have a list of food manufacturers who are coeliac friendly and support them.

I wrote to Trufree/Nutricia and told them I did not eat wheat starch or trans fats and they sent me an A4 page with a list off all their products and only 3 were suitable for my diet. Some of their biscuits had very high levels of trans fats so I told them they could advertise their gf biscuits as biscuits to die for, (I've got a way with words me!)

This to me shows how we the consumer assume that foods on the free from shelves are healthy.

To finish on a positive note coeliac have the opportunity for a very healthy diet and have a good reason to avoid many processed foods. Its coeliac children and teen agers that we should be looking out for with suitable processed foods.

Jerry

[Hidden in reply to Irene]

Just to add to this as I am not knocking Trufree/Nutricia, I just think we make assumptions about food because of the labelling and we have all seen the advert for super market washed mixed salad when a busy person gets a bag of washed mixed lettuce out of a bag and puts in straight into a glass bowl on a table and it does look good and we assume that because it says washed its how we would wash it at home but supermarkets have to prevent ecoli etc with all fresh foods that are handled by humans. So it is washed in chlorinated water that can have up 19 times more chlorine than is allowed in swimming baths. When asked about this the super markets reply was that their customers wanted a dissenfected product! I thought that the trend towards buying bottled water from the supermarkets was because the consumer didn't want to drink tap water with chlorine in it.

This to me highlights the problems with prepared foods and the need for awareness of what we are really eating, I know this not about gluten but coeliac eat salads and might have problems because of ingesting too much chlorine.

Jerry

Ps I prefer cider vinegar and mayo with my salad! And I buy the granovita egg dairy and gf mayola from Tesco's.