<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
On 26 09 96 Hendriek Boshuizen wrote:
 
> I have been reading the excellent and very interesting reports on the
> Tampere conference. One thing that intrigued me (there were more, but
> this one most) was the new codex alimentarium. At first glance this
> seemed similar to the old norm (both 10 mg per 100g), but looking better
> it is 10 mg gluten instead of 10 mg gliadine (=20 mg gluten), and it is
> per 100g protein, in stead of per 100g dry matter. I have been doing some
> calculations to see what this means in practise, using my wheatstarch
> based *GF* breadmix as an example. The breadmix contains 3 mg gliadin = 6
> mg gluten per 100g (information from the manifacturer) and thus its
> gluten content is more than 3 times under the current codex alimentarius.
> It contains 6,5 g protein per 100g (on the package) and thus almost 100
> mg gluten per 100 g protein, thus almost 10 times above the new codex
> alimentarius.
> Could someone comment on whether I got this right? Is this new standard
> only being discussed, or is it certain that it will replace the current
> value of the codex alimentarius? When will this be?
 
To inform you all: A new Codex Standard will be discussed at the next Codex
Alimentarius meeting in Bonn-Bad Godesberg (Germany) in the week from 7-11
October 1996. However ... Joe Murrays report on the presentation by Paul
Ciclitira at the Tampere conference is incorrect. The Codex limit at the moment
is still the old value of 50 mg Nitrogen / 100 gm (only appliccable to raw
materials e.g. wheat starch and not to end-products). There is a new proposal
to set the limit at 200 mg gluten / kg end-product (on dry matter), and
definitely not at 20 mg gluten / 100 g protein. This is mistakenly reported by
Joe Murray.
This proposed limit is about the same as the current 50 mg Nitrogen/100 g
(don't try to calculate with N*6,25, this is impossible because most of the
protein in wheat starch is so called "starch granule protein" which is a
non-gluten type of protein.
    During the Codex meeting other proposals will be discussed. Sweden has
suggested a tiered approach: 200  mg/kg for Gluten reduced and 20 mg / kg for
"glutenfree" and the European Celiac Societies propose a level of 40 mg/kg for
"gluten free".
 
 
Frederik Willem Janssen, Food Inspection Service Zutphen, The Netherlands.