Oats – Gluten Free OR Not?
For decades oats have been promoted as a food to avoid if we were suffering from a gluten intolerance. The good news is there is now a range of rolled oats which is suitable for those suffering from gluten intolerance. Often oats are processed in a facility which processes other grains such as wheat, barley or rye which do contain gluten. This is where cross contamination can arise, and the oats can become contaminated with gluten. Because of this issue, current Australian food labelling laws don’t allow oats to be labelled as gluten free. GF (Gloriously Free) Oats is an Australian company which goes to great lengths to ensure nil gluten contamination in their products. They are grown, processed and tested to be free of gluten contamination.
Some coeliac patients may react to the protein Avenin which is naturally forming in oats and because of this, would be advised to continue to avoid oats in their diet. However, those suffering from gluten intolerance and are not diagnosed as coeliac may find the range of GF Oats we stock in store, will be perfectly fine. Interestingly in USA and Europe oats can be labelled as gluten free and the protein Avenin which is found in oats is not considered to be a form of gluten.
With ANZAC Day next week this is good news, because now we can bake our ANZAC biscuits with Aussie GF Oats. Even better if you don’t feel like baking, we now stock GF Oats ANZAC biscuits.