<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
I recently spoke to a chemist who works for the maker of a gluten testing
kit.  I asked about the presence of gluten in grain alchohol.  He said :
-that gluten does not distill through during the distillation process.
-that grain alcohol is safe as it contains only alcohol and water.
-that any alcohol other than grain alcohol, potato based (vodka) or rice
(sake) is suspect due to the presence of gluten containing components.
Examples of this would be bourbon, brandy, beer and rum.
 
This would lead me to believe that foods containing grain alcohol could be
safe.  Vanilla extract is an example of this, provided it does not contain
bourbon.
 
As another example of how insidious gluten can be, my wife just discovered
that Kikkoman brand Mirin and Koterin, sweet cooking rice wines, contain
gluten, even though it is not listed in the ingredients.  The manufacturer
said that very small amounts (less than 1% of volume) of fermented
vegetable protein, which consists of wheat, soybean and salt, are used in
the preperation of the product.  The FDA does not require manufacturers to
list this on the label due to the small amount contained in the product.
 
We traced a recent gluten reaction I had to the Mirin.
 
Gary Roberts
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