Oats. Gluten-Free?
Are oats, even if labeled "gluten free", gluten free?
I'm a very happy girl when my face is planted in a big bowl of steaming porridge on a cold winter's morning, or munching on a hot, just out of the oven, ANZAC biscuit. However, having removed gluten from my diet for health reasons, I've begun to question the eating of oats.
The amount of contradicting advice I've read on the subject has made me bury my head in the sand, whilst still eating my porridge and biscuits in blissful ignorance.
Then I read this from the Coeliac Australia Website (of course, it just happened to be after I'd whipped up a batch of these cookies) .... Testing for presence and levels of gluten in avenin (the gluten fraction found specifically in oats) is unable to be measured due to its
slight difference in amino acid make up. As a result FSANZ (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) prohibit any form of oats to be defined as gluten free, hence all oats, pure oats and oat containing products cannot be labelled or advertised as gluten free in Australia and New Zealand.
This is different to the food standards in Europe and USA which recognises oats as being gluten free and safe for those with coeliac disease to consume. (see full statement here)
I guess it's time to take my head out of the sand and look a little further into this.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject?
In the meantime, these light, chewy, not too sweet and simple flavoured biscuits are for those of you who still can and still want to eat those lovely things called oats.
