<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
As promised, here is the material on glycerides from Gluten-Free Living:
Mono and diglycerides
Simply put, mono- and diglycerides are fats. They are made from
oil,usually soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, or palm oil, act as
emulsifiers (provide a consistent texture and prevent separation), and
are used in most baked products to keep them from getting stale. In ice
cream and other processed foods, including margarine, instant potatoes,
and chewing gum, they serve as stabilizers, which give foods body and
improve consistency
Mono and diglycerides themselves do not contain gluten. There is nothing
approaching gluten that is present inmono and diglycerides, said Larry
Skogerson, vice president and technicaldirector for American
Ingredients, one of the largest producers of mono and diglycerides in
the country. His company, as well as Archer Daniels Midland and Danisco
Cultor - the largest maker in the US, are all located in Kansas
City,leading one representative to joke that it is the mono and
diglyceride capital of the world.
Skogersen said mono anddiglycerides are produced from glycerin and oil,
which are heated to very high temperatures to allow the fat molecules to
rearrange with the glycerin. There are no proteins, no allergens of any
kind, Skogersen said. Neil Widlak, director of fats and oils research
for ADM,agreed that the production of mono and diglycerides does not
include any ingredient or process that would involve gluten. Ram Chau
Dhari, senior executive vice president of research and development for
Foritech Inc., a New Jersey company, summed up the likelihood that mono
and diglycerides contain gluten this way: not possible at all.
But mono and diglycerides are almost always on lists of questionable
foods for celiacs because of the possibility that wheat might be used
with them as a carrier. Claire Regan,director of public affairs for
Kraft Foods, Inc., said a carrier ingredient is sometimes added to foods
along with additives like mono and diglycerides to make them perform
they way they are supposed to in the food.
Under FDA regulations, a carrier used with mono and diglycerides in this
manner would fall into the incidental additive category. Additives are
considered incidental when they are present in insignificant amounts and
have no technical or functional effect on the final food product. FDA
regulations, which generally require that all ingredients of a food be
listed on the label, do allow certain incidental additives to be left
off the label.
However, recent concern about allergens has led the FDA to warn food
manufacturers that it does not consider the eight most common food
allergens (eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish,soy, tree nuts such as
almonds or cashews, and wheat) eligible for this labeling exemption. The
FDA first clarified the exemption in 1996 in response to a growing
number of reports of allergic reactions from foods that accordingto
their label should have been allergen free. Now, the FDA has updated
that clarification in a compliance policy guide for the food industry
that says incidental additives containing common food allergens have
never been considered eligible for the exemption. The Food Allergy
Issues Alliance, a group of food trade associations and consumer
interest groups, in May issued labeling guidelines that say incidental
additives should be on the label. For celiacs this means that if wheat
is used as a carrier for mono and diglycerides, it has to be declared on
the label.
Wheat would be listed on thelabel of any Kraft Food that used it as a
carrier, Regan said. In fact, she said Kraft lists all gluten-containing
ingredients on its labels, including those used as incidental additives,
even if they are not among the eight most common allergens. That means
oats, barley or rye would also show up on the label if they were ever
used as an additive by Kraft.
Meanwhile, General Mills does not use any carrier with mono and
diglycerides in its products, according to Kevin Farnum, director of
food safety. He said a carrier would be used to help mono and
diglycerides spread consistently in a food. General Mills uses a bead
form of mono and diglycerides that mixes easily and does not need a
carrier to work, Farnum said. All this would seem to indicate that
celiacs can remove mono and diglycerides from any suspicious or
questionable food lists and still feel safe.
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