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

I have received several helpful emails in response to my questions about ice
cream.  I do plan to summarize them in a day or two once the responses slow
down but in the meantime several people have responded to me and mentioned
that they had the same question about mono & diglycerides.  I wanted to go
ahead and forward this very helpful email that I received.

Thanks so much to Barb & Glenn for this information!


>From: "Barb & Glenn Hicks" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Mono and Diglycerides
>Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 07:53:43 -0600
>
>Thought this might help with the mono and diglycerides question.
>
>Barbara in Missouri
>
>PS  Baskin Robbins has a list of GF ice cream.  We have never had a problem
>eating ice cream anywhere as long as it is vanilla.
>
>
>
>
>Date:         Fri, 14 Dec 2001 12:51:56 -0500
>
>
>From:         Ann Whelan <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>Subject:      Mono and diglycerides
>
><<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your
>situation.>>
>
>As promised, here is the material on glycerides from Gluten-Free Living:
>
>Mono and diglycerides
>
>Simply put, mono- and diglycerides are fats. They are made from
>oil,usually soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, or palm oil, act as
>emulsifiers (provide a consistent texture and prevent separation), and
>are used in most baked products to keep them from getting stale. In ice
>cream and other processed foods, including margarine, instant potatoes,
>and chewing gum, they serve as stabilizers, which give foods body and
>improve consistency
>
>Mono and diglycerides themselves do not contain gluten. There is nothing
>approaching gluten that is present inmono and diglycerides, said Larry
>Skogerson, vice president and technicaldirector for American
>Ingredients, one of the largest producers of mono and diglycerides in
>the country. His company, as well as Archer Daniels Midland and Danisco
>Cultor - the largest maker in the US, are all located in Kansas
>City,leading one representative to joke that it is the mono and
>diglyceride capital of the world.
>
>Skogersen said mono anddiglycerides are produced from glycerin and oil,
>which are heated to very high temperatures to allow the fat molecules to
>rearrange with the glycerin. There are no proteins, no allergens of any
>kind, Skogersen said. Neil Widlak, director of fats and oils research
>for ADM,agreed that the production of mono and diglycerides does not
>include any ingredient or process that would involve gluten. Ram Chau
>Dhari, senior executive vice president of research and development for
>Foritech Inc., a New Jersey company, summed up the likelihood that mono
>and diglycerides contain gluten this way: not possible at all.
>
>But mono and diglycerides are almost always on lists of questionable
>foods for celiacs because of the possibility that wheat might be used
>with them as a carrier. Claire Regan,director of public affairs for
>Kraft Foods, Inc., said a carrier ingredient is sometimes added to foods
>along with additives like mono and diglycerides to make them perform
>they way they are supposed to in the food.
>
>Under FDA regulations, a carrier used with mono and diglycerides in this
>manner would fall into the incidental additive category. Additives are
>considered incidental when they are present in insignificant amounts and
>have no technical or functional effect on the final food product. FDA
>regulations, which generally require that all ingredients of a food be
>listed on the label, do allow certain incidental additives to be left
>off the label.
>
>However, recent concern about allergens has led the FDA to warn food
>manufacturers that it does not consider the eight most common food
>
>allergens (eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish,soy, tree nuts such as
>almonds or cashews, and wheat) eligible for this labeling exemption. The
>FDA first clarified the exemption in 1996 in response to a growing
>number of reports of allergic reactions from foods that accordingto
>their label should have been allergen free. Now, the FDA has updated
>that clarification in a compliance policy guide for the food industry
>that says incidental additives containing common food allergens have
>never been considered eligible for the exemption. The Food Allergy
>Issues Alliance, a group of food trade associations and consumer
>interest groups, in May issued labeling guidelines that say incidental
>additives should be on the label. For celiacs this means that if wheat
>is used as a carrier for mono and diglycerides, it has to be declared on
>the label.
>
>Wheat would be listed on thelabel of any Kraft Food that used it as a
>carrier, Regan said. In fact, she said Kraft lists all gluten-containing
>ingredients on its labels, including those used as incidental additives,
>even if they are not among the eight most common allergens. That means
>oats, barley or rye would also show up on the label if they were ever
>used as an additive by Kraft.
>
>Meanwhile, General Mills does not use any carrier with mono and
>diglycerides in its products, according to Kevin Farnum, director of
>food safety. He said a carrier would be used to help mono and
>diglycerides spread consistently in a food. General Mills uses a bead
>form of mono and diglycerides that mixes easily and does not need a
>carrier to work, Farnum said. All this would seem to indicate that
>celiacs can remove mono and diglycerides from any suspicious or
>questionable food lists and still feel safe.
>
>
>

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