<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Hi to all,
 
After reciving the following response to a post I put out concerning wheat
contamination in corn, I feel the need to clear a couple of things up, with
out trying to  cut any one down.  As I understand, the purpose of this list
is to foster a discussion of ideas and facts, and as such, I welcome
questions to any of my postings.
 
>Since in any process involving large volumes of grains, some
>fragmentation will occur  - leading to some wheat *particles*  and
>*dust*  being mixed with the corn, and since THIS is NOT "easy to remove
>due to the large difference in  size,  I do not believe that your
>reasoning is sound.
 
The first part of this statement is correct.  Moving large volumes of grain
does break up some of the grains, and does create dust.  However, the broken
up pieces of grain and dust are in fact even more readily removed from the
whole kernal corn by simple size seperation, the size difference is now even
greater.   A process called aspiration where a finely tuned air stream is
pulled through a flowing stream of grain lifting away broken particals of
grain and dust.  This aspiration is generaly done as the first step in
cleaning grain, and also as the last step, just before processing begins.
 
>IHMO, if the wheat was ever mixed with the corn you WILL get SOME gluten
>in the corn.
 
Yes, even though it is very easy to remove wheat from corn, there is still
the possibility of cross contamination, but is far more likely to come from
sources in packaging the finished product, or using the same processing
equipment for multiple grains. (using the same processing equipment for
multiple grains is not common in the large milling companies in the US,
packaging equipment is another story.)
 
I would like to say that I am not "shooting from the hip" making this post on
grain processing.  I have a B.S. in Milling Science, and 10+ years of
experience in real world milling, and another 7+ in grain moving and storage.
 Before I endevored to post on corn processing, I contacted a friend whom is
plant operations manager of one of the largest dry corn mills in the US to
confirm what I was going to state about corn milling and cleaning operations.
 I am in the process of trying to contact a friend in the rice milling
industry to obtain more information so I can make an informed post with
respect to that very important food.
 
To end this post, I would again like to say I welcome the comments and
questions, and will try to answer any as clearly as possible without
overwhelming detail.
 
Best to all, and Happy GF Holidays
 
Steve  Warm in S. FLA