emcat76

Hi,
I've just joined this group because I have made a strange discovery and
want to know what others think of it.
I bought a packet of rolled oats from the supermarket to make some
wheat-free biscuits, made the biscuits, ate a few, and then noticed it
said on the packet "allergy advice - contains wheat gluten". I normally
check ingredients of everything, as I have a wheat-intolerance, but
had no idea some oats are not actually wheat-free.
I phoned the supermarket and asked what this meant and they told me
that of course rolled oats contain wheat because of the rolling
process, when they are rolled in flour! I said that I hadn't checked
the ingredients because oats are oats and you don't expect them to have
any other ingredient. They have refused to give me a refund or any
compensation and suggest that it's my fault for eating them; because
they have labelled the product correctly.
I have since looked on google to see if I can find any reference to
oats being rolled in flour, and nowhere does it mention that fact.
Has anyone else heard of this tradition of rolling oats in flour? Is it
a new thing or has it always been this way? Surely it would be well
known if this was the case? I have been eating oats for years and never
realised that some oats aren't actually wheat-free.
Rolled oats are the ones commonly used for porridge I think, and I've
never had a bad reaction to porridge, so I don't know what to think any
more!!
I hope someone can help with my query, perhaps with more information.
Best wishes,
Em

duh

On 26 Jan 2006 04:34:04 -0800

I have heard different explanations for this. One theory said that oats
are commonly grown in rotation with other grains so that small amounts
of them are found in commercial oats. Another blamed grain silos or
other food processing equipment for not being cleaned out between crops.
Wheat, oats, barley, and rye are commonly cross contaminated at every
level of the distribution chain. If you are allergic to one, you had
best avoid all of them. You should also avoid American white rice,
because US regulations require that it be "enriched" with contaminated
vitamins.

jack campin - bogus address

Rolled oats in the UK *are* wheat-free.

So far. American shite usually gets here eventually.

See if you can find a magazine to run a story on it. The company's
behaviour seems outrageous.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

julie bove

I don't know about the explanation from the grocery store. This is the
first time I've heard of that. I do know that because of the way most
grains are grown, transported and processed, there is no way to avoid cross
contamination. My daughter is allergic to both wheat and gluten so she
avoids oats.

--
See my webpage:
http://mysite.verizon.net/juliebove/index.htm

jack campin - bogus address

"Rolled" means they are flattened between heated rollers. There's
no earthly reason to expect flour to be involved in the process.


People with gluten sensitivity will usually have problems with oat
gluten as well as wheat gluten. Cross-contamination on the scale
you're talking about here isn't very important - there will only be
a very small proportion of wheat ears harvested in a field of oats,
and hardly anyone has a severe allergy to wheat while tolerating
oats.

Cross-contamination between maize, gluten grains, and rice has much
more serious consequences, but it can't easily happen on the farm, so
it's easier to trace it to a specific incident of sloppy handling.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

frank zimmerman

Em,

If you want to play it safe, you can buy a sack of whole grain oats, and
roll them yourself with a small manual machine, which can be purchased.
Marga Mulino is the name of one of these, but there are other brands
available also. Oats are quite soft, so they are not hard to roll
through one of these machines, although the end result will not be quite
as fine as the rolled oats you buy in a store.

Regards,
Frank.

inverse opinions

Rolled oats, as in for porridge? Rolled in flour?

I'll have to tell my grandmother... she does the whole process herself.

That's a laugh. Call the grocery again, and tell them that the phone-call is
being recorded for "quality and security purposes". Doesn't matter if you
don't have a tape, even if you just write down key details; time & date, who
you're speaking to, and in as good quality as you can, how the conversation
goes.

Then ask them again, and if they say about "rolled oats in flour" again, ask
them if the "department of food regulations" or "health and safety" (or
whoever you have nearby) would agree with them on this one. Even if they say
that they would, I can guarantee you that their next stop on the phone will
be a solicitor to check their options.

After that, in an hour or two give another follow up call about something
else on the packet, or even if you have another problem about a different
product, and repeat the process. Then at the end, ask if you can have a
refund, or if you're game a portion of compensation. It's how I managed to
get a whole platter of goodies from a nearby company that tried to dodge;
and better yet, they never tried it again.

Company watchdogs might also be groups you'd want to get involved with if
that's happened- just because they're there, most people assume that they
can monitor everything, but mostly they have to act on what consumers tell
them. If an insurance company threatens you when you ask to leave, the
watchdogs (or police) won't know that they have to act until you tell them.
And they have a lot more resources than most of us for dealing with these
issues.

Benjamin