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

Diane Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Since my initial post about eating oats, several list members
>have written to me about obtaining oats that are not contaminated
>by wheat....at my local grocery store....there is a small health food
>department with bins of bulk prodcuts. At 89 cents a lb. you can buy
>rolled oats from:
>   Heartland Mills
>   Rte 1, Box 2
>   Marienthal, Kansas 67863
>   316-379-4472
>I called the company and they assured me there was no way the oats
would come in contact with wheat or be put in machnery that processed
>wheat.

The Europeans doing the main study on oats published last year were so
concerned about contamination that they obtained a special lot of oats that
had been grown and processed under special conditions.  I thought it would
be helpful to repost something from about a year ago which I felt provided
good perspective on the cross contamination issue.  If anyone on the list
has additional direct experience in this field, please join into the
discussion.

Based on these emails, IF I were to allow my celiac son to eat oats (and I
am not ready to do that yet), I would question the oat provider extremely
carefully.

Bill Elkus
Los Angeles

----post one follows ----

Date:         Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:48:54 -0500
From:         [log in to unmask]

I have been reading with some interest the discussion about oats and cross
contamination.  The grain storage / transporting infrastucture in the US
virtually promises cross contamination of grains.  Cleaning processes can
seperate grains with large size and shape differences.  For instance, at the
flour mill I use to work at, the wheat would come in with about 0.5% corn and
soybeans mixed in, but because of the size difference, they were easy to
remove.  Oats and wheat, on the other hand, are close to the same size, and
much more difficult to remove.  I have not worked directly at an oat
processing facility, and do not know how well they clean the grains before
processing.  Some mills I have worked at had the equipment to seperate wheat
and oats, some did not.  I would think that oat mills wouls be the same.  I
do know that we will not eat any oat products.

Best,
STEVE, warm in S. FLA

----post two follows ----

Date:         Mon, 16 Dec 1996 11:18:26 -0500
From:         [log in to unmask]

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