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Gluten contamination of cereal foods in Canada
Author(s) -
Gélinas Pierre,
McKin Carole M.,
Mena Mari Carmen,
Méndez Enrique
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of food science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.831
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1365-2621
pISSN - 0950-5423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2007.01599.x
Subject(s) - gluten , gluten free , food science , contamination , food contaminant , biology , chemistry , ecology
Summary Persons suffering from celiac disease (CD) must avoid foods containing gluten or those contaminated with wheat, barley, or rye. This study was designed to estimate gluten contamination of cereal‐based foods available in Canada, whether labelled gluten‐free or not. About half of the 148 foods sampled were labelled as gluten‐free. According to R5‐enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), twenty‐three cereal‐based foods (or 15%) contained more than 20 mg of gluten per kg, including sixteen regular and seven gluten‐free foods, the latter being the least contaminated. When used in combination with R5‐ELISA, AOAC‐ELISA (not detecting barley) was a simple and efficient tool to roughly estimate the nature of the gluten contamination, which was later confirmed by real‐time polymerase chain reaction for barley, and wheat/barley/rice. Rice‐, corn‐ or quinoa‐based foods were the safest for celiac patients. In addition to misleading food labelling for both gluten‐rich and gluten‐free foods, critical issues for persons with CD included foods made with oats or buckwheat (contaminated with wheat and barley gluten) in addition to those, such as breakfast cereals, specifically enriched with barley malt ingredients.