Gluten contamination of cereal foods in Canada |
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Authors: | Pierre Gélinas Carole M McKinnon Mari Carmen Mena & Enrique Méndez |
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Affiliation: | Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, J2S 8E3; Unidad de Gluten, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | Celiac disease cereals and grains enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay gluten-free gluten intolerance natural food toxicants oats safety wheat |
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