“… And it’s Gluten Free!”

There are many catch-phrases today in food marketing. Some are very over-used to the point of being a joke. I will see on my social network feeds at least one ‘food marketing joke’ every day, and the use of ‘gluten free’ is the biggest percentage.

Yes, I am annoyed. But it isn’t for what you think.

The food industry is there to extend the shelf life of food. That sounds simplistic, but most of the techniques we have developed over the centuries in the home and commercial kitchens of the world do just that. You take something that would have an on-the-counter life of perhaps a day and make it last weeks when in a home kitchen, perhaps months in an industrial kitchen. The processing of ingredients to allow us to partake in the food far after the cyclical harvest is the prime reason for a kitchen. And that is where the industrial food labs come into play.

Even on the packages of things you may not think have ‘additives’, you will find things listed that may seem innocuous, or perhaps scary. It really depends on how you read things. From the shredded cheese with cellulose and anti-fungal agents(1), to the fresh apple that has that shine enhanced with food-grade wax (2), even things that don’t look like they should have anything other than the recognizable food item will have things you may not consider ‘food’. And when you have food allergies and sensitivities, this can be a serious problem.

Sometimes, the things on the label just sound really scary. Most people in the US do not have the foundation in food science and chemistry to be able to look at something and decipher what it really is. How about this ingredients list? ‘Sodium Chloride, Calcium Silicate, Dextrose, Potassium Iodide’. That is what is in Table Salt. (3) Salt, is not just salt. There are many forms of salt that we use every day, and the reason for the various forms changes from person to person. Most table salts are Sodium Chloride, though Potassium Chloride has been used for those who have Salt/Sodium sensitivities. The Calcium Silicate is there to keep it from clumping and so that it flows out of the container. The Dextrose (a sugar), helps the Iodine that has been added to stabilize and not wander off. And, yes, most salts that have ‘added Iodine’ will have something like Dextrose to keep it from evaporating. And, as most chefs know, salt and sugar enhance each other, so the sugar will make it ‘saltier’ without making it sweet.

So. That wasn’t too bad, was it?

Except… Sourcing.

Lets take the Dextrose. Sugar. Sounds simple enough because we all know that sugar cane is sugar. Except when it isn’t. There are many sources for sugars- Dextrose, Glucose and other forms. Sugar Beets, Honey, Agave, Birch Trees, Maple Trees have all been used in the home kitchen as well as industrialized situations. In an industrial food company, they want to make sure that where they source their ingredients is consistent and always available. This means, for most industrial kitchens, Dextrose is made from Corn. (4) Many things are made from Corn, the most subsidized product of the US, aside from oil. (5) Unfortunately, with all the products that are made from Corn(Xylitol, Cellulose, Ethel Alcohols, etc.) there is no way to sufficiently separate the end product from the source. By which, I mean if it was corn, it will still have some corn in it, making anyone who is sensitive to corn products react when exposed to it.

Corn is used to make many of the artificial sweeteners we use. I use the term artificial sweetener fairly loosely, as there are many forms of non-nutritive sweeteners available. These are starting to pop up in things that are not labeled as ‘diet’ to help enhance the sweetness. Unfortunately, there are too many cross allergens and things you would not think would be a problem are. Such as Stevia. It is a very sweet tasting plant by its self, and the extracts even more so. Unfortunately, people who are sensitive to ragweed are also usually sensitive to Stevia and it’s extracts, to the point of full allergy attacks.(11)

There are international groups that help to regulate what things are used for food products, but you still need to know what you are reading on the label if you are allergic to things. Just because a label declares a natural colorant does not mean you are free to enjoy if you are sensitive to things. The excipients in, of all things, Benadryl, has been shown to be full of allergens, with the brands pink colorant being the most concerning as the source has been both a type of insect extract(cochineal) and a fluorescein-based(hydrocarbon) dye, but are not always clear which that particular product uses. The food labs since the beginning of the last century have created many colorants for food, and because of the predominance of oil money in those labs, many of them are based on hydrocarbons.(14) Some have been slowly slid off the market, but only to be replaced by other ‘un-natural’ sources.

If you do not wish to use corn for your sugar source, American Sugar Beets are easy to get ahold of, and the sugar is very consistent. Part of the reason for this is the use of only GMO sugar beets by members of the American Sugar Beet Association (12). This is and yet is not a concern for those who read the ingredients lists on our food. Hybridization has been in full use for millennia to make the food we eat easier to grow, more consistent in color and size, and without hybridization, we would not have the staples we have today. The genetic manipulations that modern agriculture labs use have been proven to mix with and cause problems with neighbor farms, and the limited growth cycle that can be put into seeds(corn, cotton, etc.) have bankrupted farmers all over the world, but especially in India.(13) This lends its self to not just nutritional concerns, but the international ethics of the ingredients themselves.

In a world economy as ours, we are used to being able to get just about anything at any time of the year. This means that things travel from one hemisphere to another for our taste and convenience on a regular basis. To allow this to happen, the standardization of transport techniques has included use of pesticides, herbicides, drying agents, irradiation… Many things that should and do scare people who pay attention. Even when the original source is organic, because of the transportation protocols, it will not always be ‘clean’ when you purchase it. It is not enough to wash things when you get it into your kitchen. You need to know more of how your food was handled and produced to be able to feel comfortable with its use.

There is also the huge false food industry. From olive oil that is mostly corn or safflower oil to the grated cheese we use on pizza and pasta having cellulose above the anti-caking needs AND oils to make it stretch further(15). To bring the apparent protein up on pet foods, Melamine has been added, leading to deaths of dogs, cats and even livestock(16). Names of regions for particular foods, think Champagne or San Marzano, can appear on labels, but unless the trade mark people are watching, it isn’t always from the place, or have the ingredient you are looking for. Food is not always what you think it is.

This leads me into the reason for the article. “Milk – A Gluten Free Product!”

To transport the tanks of milk from farm to processing plant and then to the grocers’, the temperature, the humidity, the cleanliness all need to be handled with care. Just a little too warm and that milk will spoil to the way to the shelf. Let it sit for too long and it will separate, making the milk look watery. It is the need for emulsifiers in plain liquid milk that can lead to the often laughed at ‘no gluten!’ labels on some brands. Many liquid milks and cream have Polysorbates in them(6). This group of emulsifiers keeps the water and fats from separating, making the product much more pleasing to consume. Unfortunately, people who are sensitive to Propylene Glycol, one of its chemical predecessors(7), can have adverse reactions, mostly in the form of diarrhea. Many milks also have carrageenan, a product extracted from red kelp and ‘sea moss’. Being a product from the ocean, sometimes shellfish are processed along with the kelp, making those who are sensitive to shellfish react. There is also evidence that carrageenan by it’s self exacerbates GI problems, especially those who have Celiacs. (8)

This is a difficult line to find as milk products need the shelf stabilization to keep it available to us in the grocery stores. These two items are in the ingredients lists of most liquid milk products, as is cellulose. But, wait! If you look at the ingredients list of most milk products, you will not see cellulose. This is because if, by volume, an additive is less than 2% of the whole, it does not have to be listed. In fact, many additives have been allowed without listing(9). The cellulose that is used is used as a stabilizer for long-range transport and can have a source of corn, birch or wheat. Which means, you don’t know if the stabilizer for that milk is wood pulp, corn or wheat stalks. Or is present at all.

Those who are Celiac or gluten sensitive need to make sure that what they use is as gluten free as possible. This means, usually, as wheat free as possible. With wheat hiding in so many food items, cosmetics (10) and household cleaning items, being able to identify products that are safe is becoming harder with every new discovery in the use of wheat-based items. For a good article on the difference between a sensitivity and an allergy, please see – Allergy Vs Sensitivity

Going back to the Polysorbates, many are produced from algae, but some are manufactured from green wheat with the gluten that comes with it. There is no way to completely extract the Polysorbates from the base product, which means there will be gluten contaminates. Which means, combined with cellulose of unknown origins, the Polysorbates of unknown origin can be quite a problem for those who have Gluten sensitivities.

It is complicated. It is going to get even more complicated as the food technology creates more ways of using the resources we have. For now, we have to rely on the manufacturers and brands to list things so that we can research for our own well-being. And when they say that milk is ‘Gluten Free’, we have to believe them.

Perhaps with a pinch of salt.

Caution: This article contains words known to the state of California to be “gluten”.

Additional Links: Panera is doing a series of informational videos, and the first one hits on most of the things I have been writing about, and follows into a way to bring real food back to the table. Food-Interrupted https://www.food-interrupted.com/episode-1-grain-interrupted

Edited to add: Not only is it the food, but the packaging we have to pay attention to. As pointed out to me by a reader, straws, to-go containers and more can be made from milk by-products, wheat, and corn. And this business owner said it much more eloquently than I could. https://onedishcuisine.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/allergy-alert-eco-friendly-straws-containers-diapers-wipes/

(1) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natamycin

(2) https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/wax-on-apples/

(3) http://www.wholelifeeating.com/2012/05/morton-iodized-salt-whats-in-it/

(4) https://cooperativepurchasers.com/Ingredients/Dextrose/How-Is-Dextrose-Monohydrate-Made.html

(5) https://www.thebalance.com/government-subsidies-definition-farm-oil-export-etc-3305788

(6) http://www.bellchem.com/news/polysorbate-80

(7)https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1120&tid=240

(8) http://www.thepatientceliac.com/2013/01/13/carrageenan-and-celiac-disease/

https://greatist.com/eat/seamoss

(9) https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/13/unlabeled-aspartame-use.aspx

http://www.organicandhealthy.org/2017/01/dairy-industry-trying-to-hide-aspartame.html