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

Apologies for more on this someone wrote to me about Old Wessex Irish oats being labelled "wheat-free" and possibly connected to the British Isles.  I sent this reply:
Many oat products here in the UK have "wheat-free" on them including the excellent and widely available Nairn's oatcakes.  It means no wheat is added (as happnes in some oatcakes) and I understand they source their oats from dedicated mills.  It does not mean the oats are not grown on soil used for wheat and barley.  My son eats these and I am happy they are sufficiently pure for him.

As for Old Wessex, I suspect this just means they don't add wheat.   I have to say that a Jewish company from New Jersey calling themselves something as English as "Old Wessex" that sells "Irish" and "Scottish" oats and oatmeal (and other cereals) milled and stored in Minnesota sounded to me like a company trading on a bit of Olde Worlde agro-nostalgia.   A search if the Listserv archives (Item #26705 (20 May 2003 07:55) - Old Wessex Oats)  and other research confirms are North American, in fact Conagra oats under a different name.  The use of Irish and Scottish refers to the TYPE of oats not their origin.  They may be fine but you might be better off using a brand like McCanns that at least has a website, is aware of the problem for coeliacs, answers queries and offers some reassurance about milling. A quick Google search show Old Wessex are pretty elusive which always make me a tad suspicious (no website, no email).  They also make other cereals using other grains such as Old Wessex Ltd.'s 5-Grain Cereal (oats, rye, triticale, barley, and golden flax NO WHEAT ). They are not sold in the UK.

There is some information here:

http://gale.ecnext.com/coms2/profile-zyb8-Old-Wessex-Ltd.html

Old Wessex Ltd.

Company Profile, Information & Research

Company Name: Old Wessex Ltd.

Location: Franklin Lakes, NJ, United States

Company Description: Cereal Breakfast Foods

A reference to a law suit in the 1990s they undertook reveals a bit more

Here: http://www.oah.state.mn.us/aljBase/04006976.93.htm

"Old Wessex is a New Jersey company engaged in the business of selling four kinds of processed oatmeal cereal.  The four types  are  Scottish, Oat Bran, Instant and Irish oatmeal.  For a few of its customers  Old  Wessex also shrink-wrapped together one container each of Oat Bran, Instant and  Irish and called it a Variety Pack.  Prior to forming Old Wessex, the  owners had little or no experience in the oatmeal cereal industry.  Stanley  Jankowitz, the President of Old Wessex, handled all aspects of Old Wessex's  business. Old Wessex began operating as a going concern in November of  1987..... .....ConAgra milled and processed raw oats for Old Wessex.  As  part of this procedure, the food product was heated to a temperature designed to kill living organisms.  The cereal was then transported in bags by ConAgra to  Roman Meal, located in Fargo, North Dakota, for the purpose of packaging the  four types of cereal in small, cylindrical containers which bore the Old  Wessex label and type of cereal."

The use of the labels 'Irish' and 'Scottish' is at best confusing and likely to be disingenuous.

Charlotte

Oxford, in the cynical Old UK

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