<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

In brief, I asked if Maltose was safe for Celiacs.

A concise, yet fairly complete answer was:
You are not wrong that maltose is a fermentation product of barley, but it 
is generically a special type of sugar that can be produced in a number of 
different ways. In fact, "high maltose corn syrup" is available to food 
producers (  http://www.ifpc.com/products.htm 
http://linda1982.en.ec21.com/GC00696820/CA00696825/corn_maltose_syrup___oral_syrup_.html 
http://monggo.en.ec21.com/GC00742571/CA00742591/Starch_syrup.html  ) 
Therefore, if there is maltose in your food, you don't know whether it 
came from corn, barley or the laboratory. You and I are not worried about 
chemically pure maltose because it is a sugar and sugars do not adversely 
affect celiacs, but we are concerned about contaminating barley proteins 
that might be present because the maltose was derived from barley or some 
other grain that is not safe for celiacs.

A couple of people also said that they did react to maltose, this response 
was typical:
The two celiacs in our family react to maltose containing products as 
if they had eaten gluten. No, this isn't proof, just our experience.

It seems as if it might be possible to safely consume Maltose if you can 
confirm the source and the manufacturing process, although some may still 
react.  Unfortunately for me, the product I was interested in was a 
delightful rice cake that is produced in mainland China, so the chances of 
identifying the source of Maltose used is not very high.  I am one of 
those Celiacs (lucky or not, depending on your point of view) that is 
fairly asymptomatic to gluten.  So I can't judge by my reaction whether 
food is safe or not.  I really like these little rice cakes, but I think 
I'll have to give them up.

Thanks for your help!

Fred
Frederick P. Fendt, P.E. | Distinguished Engineer | Energy Systems and 
Pollution Abatement | Rohm and Haas Company | Engineering Technical Center 
| 3100 State Road | Croydon, PA 19021       Phone: 215.785.7661 | 
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