<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Comments from Don Kasarda, Albany, CA
 
Don Wiss, who does excellent research and provides an enormous amount of
valuable information to celiac patients, posted a message that included the
standard of identity for caramel color, which follows:
 
Caramel Color
  The problem with caramel color is it may or may not contain gluten
  depending on how it is manufactured. In the U.S.A. caramel color must
  conform with the FDA standard of identity from 21CFR CH.1. This statute
  says- The color additive caramel is the dark-brown liquid or solid material
  resulting from the carefully controlled heat treatment of the following
  food grade carbohydrates:
        Dextrose (corn sugar)
        Invert sugar
        Lactose (milk sugar)
        Malt syrup (usually from barley malt)
        Molasses (from cane)
        Starch Hydrolysates and fractions thereof (can include wheat)
        Sucrose (cane or beet)
  (Also acids, alkalis and salts are listed which may be employed to assist
  caramelization).
 
Now, there is certainly a possibility that some toxic peptides might end up
in caramel color made from two of the seven possible sources listed
above--from malt syrup or from wheat starch.  A person who has decided that
strictly defined zero gluten is his or her goal, should avoid caramel color
on that basis.
 
However, for those of you who like to hear the other side (I know there are
some because you send me messages occasionally), I will point out that: 1)
the amount of gluten peptides likely to end up in malt syrup or wheat starch
is very small, hence the amount that ends up in caramel color will be very
small.  2) Many Europeans eat wheat starch products without any clear
evidence that the vast majority are harmed by this.  3) The amount of
caramel color used in products makes up a small amount of the product. 4)
The process of caramelization might destroy active peptides although this
has not been studied to my knowledge.
 
Is caramel color worth worrying about?  I think the decision is up to the
individual and his or her personal risk tolerance.  If you have a Type I
hypersensitivity response to gluten (this is the type of response that can,
in its extreme manifestations, kill a person who is stung by a bee or eats a
single peanut), of course you should avoid even minute amounts of gluten.
It is my impression that very few celiac patients have a Type I response
(perhaps others will comment on this).
 
Disclaimer:  I am a research chemist, and not a physician. This is not
medical advice.  It is information provided for the purposes of education
and discussion.