Latimer, Iowa (north central) | Gluten cross contamination is a big issue with the current oat supply chain. Roughly 92% of the oats consumed by people in the U.S. are imported from Canada. Just due to the crop rotations where oats are grown in Canada and the nature of transport there are many potential contamination introduction points. Barley is the hardest to sort of because has a very similar signature to an oat groat in a optical sorter. Corn and soybeans grown here are easy to clean out and do not have gluten anyway.
By the time an typical oat goes from farm storage, to a county elevator, to a shuttle train loader, to a train, to a large mill in the US or Canada it will average around 170 ppm of gluten contamination. Optical/color sorters and even infrared optical sorters will take out 95% of this contamination getting it under the U.S. standard for gluten free of 20 ppm. Europe is moving to under 10 ppm in a couple years and Canada and U.S. likely to follow. A raw oat grown in north Iowa/southern Mn averages 17 ppm pre cleaning so down to 0-2 ppm after cleaning. Mainly due to our rotational crops not having gluten.
Another issue is that many mills also process crops that contain gluten so cannot be a gluten and allergen free facility. St Ansgar is an example of this. Brand/CPGs looking for a gluten/allergen free facility at scale will go to a Canadian mill that only handles oats.
Makes for an interesting niche growers in our region can satisfy with our transportation logistics.
To the O.P. I would try and get oats from someone like Bryce from Golden Prairie oats here on Agtalk. |
Celiac Disease and Gluten Free meals suggestions
