<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Steve Veach <[log in to unmask]>, in post about grain carriers used
to insert vitamins into enriched white rice, wrote:
 
>This carrier is typically grain based or corn based, but most (if not
>all) rice manufacturer get their vitamin enrichment raw material from
>outside suppliers, whom they do not require to specify primary
>ingredients in most cases (there are exceptions).
>
>The bottom line is that ANY vitamin enriched rice product may contain
>gluten unless the manufacturer knows otherwise.
 
A few years ago, I did some research into the matter because of this
possibility of a problem.
 
I contacted the two major US suppliers of enrichment material and
verified that corn is used as the carrier by most rice companies.  A few
use rice starch, but that is a higher priced option.  But the rice
company has the option of requesting any carrier and that does include
wheat starch.  The company that had 90 percent of the US market at the
time of my research was not using any carriers that would be a problem
for Celiacs.
 
The second company was not as helpful and they admitted that wheat
starch was used as a carrier.  Luckily these products were not being
sold in the US market.
 
Another friend also did some research with a person in the California
rice industry who seemed highly knowledgeable about the enrichment
situation.  He said he has talked with celiac patients and groups about
this a great many times over the years.
 
>First of all, there is a Federal standard for enrichment, but only 6
>states have regulations requiring enrichment of rice: NY, NJ, TX, NM,
>AZ, and CA.  California follows the Federal standard.  There is an
>exception in California for glucose-coated rice, which does not have
>to be enriched.
>
>He said there are two types of enrichment mixtures used, one that is
>starch-based and one that is not.  The latter would be completely
>gluten-free and the former would be gluten-free if corn starch is used
>and that is usually the case.  However, there is no requirement for
>corn starch and so it is always possible that some rice somewhere
>contains wheat starch.  His company, when using a starch-based
>(powdered) enrichment mixture would always use the corn starch.  They
>sell to a lot of people, who would put their own brand name on the
>rice, but typical labels would be Diamond G or Botan.
>
>However, according to my source, the maximum amount of enrichment
>material that would be added to 100 lbs of rice is 1 oz.  If we assume
>that all the material is starch and that the starch is wheat starch,
>and that the maximum amount of gluten that could be in the starch is
>0.3%.
 
One cookbook states that one cup of rice is equal to 3 servings.  A
cup of uncooked rice weights 7 ounces, so one serving is 2.333 ounces.
Multiplying by 28 grams per ounce, one serving is 65 grams of rice.
 
If 100 pounds of rice (45,400 grams) has one ounce (28 grams) of
enrichment material, then one serving of rice (65 grams) would have
.0403 grams = 40 milligrams of enrichment material.  If the
enrichment material was all wheat starch, at 0.3% gluten, one
serving of rice would only have 0.12 milligrams of gluten.
 
Many celiac experts feel 10 mg per day of gluten is safe and there are
some that will argue that 100 mg is ok.  It would take 83 servings of
rice (that is, if the rice used wheat carrier, and it seems most do not)
to approach the 10 mg lower limit,which itself is about one 50th of a
slice of whole wheat bread.  To put it another way, one serving of rice
would have about the same gluten content as one 4,000th of a slice of
whole wheat bread!  Now, many celiacs, myself included, have a zero
gluten tolerance policy ....  but this is so little that one might say
it is effectively zero.
 
>Finally, it is evidently possible to wash off the enrichment mixture
>quite easily from the rice by rinsing it in cold water until the wash
>water is clear.  This should leave almost no trace of starch and
>gluten on the rice. This washing procedure to get rid of possible
>wheat starch was evidently worked out by some professor at Cal Poly.
 
I also had the same discussions with Riceland and came away with the
same warm feelings.  In fact, I feel safe enough that I have rice
everyday.
 
The bottom line is that many celiacs eat multiple servings of rice each
day and the followup biopsies do not show any damage.  In the US, this
appears to be a non problem.
 
----
Michael Jones ([log in to unmask]) Orlando, FL USA