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

Russ Paden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I read recently that wheat germ is gluten-free. Anybody know anything about
>this?

Below is an e-mail that has not been posted to the list before. Note that
the endosperm is where the gluten is. Don.

Date: Mon, 26 Aug 96 10:00:55 PDT
From: "Donald D. Kasarda" <[log in to unmask]>

I did attend a meeting in Kansas City last week and talked with a
representative of ADM (Archer-Daniels-Midland) Co.  They do a lot of grain
milling and he said that the bran and germ fractions are mostly used for
animal feed.  The small amount they sell for human consumption is not
specially processed by them.  It might be washed slightly by the user, but
the feeling of the person I talked with was that thorough washing would be
unlikely.

So, even though I can't come up with any quantitative information on the
amount of endosperm remaining with the bran and germ fractions (it will
probably vary according to the end user's processing), my feeling is that
too much is present for a celiac patient to risk eating products that
contain a significant proportion of either wheat bran or germ. The ADM
executive was in agreement on that. As I said in my earlier post, white bits
of endosperm attached to the bran are very noticeable in a freshly milled
bran fraction from a Brabender Quadrumat Senior mill, which is a fairly
sophisticated experimental mill that I have used occasionally.

Don