Oats so good: General Mills adds another gluten-free patent to its belt
Oats do not naturally contain gluten, but can become contaminated with other gluten-containing grains – like wheat, barley, rye and triticale.
The contamination may come from rotating grain crops on the same land as well as from harvesting, transporting, storing and merchandising.
Defining gluten-free
The US federal government stipulates that, to carry the gluten-free claim, a product must contain a maximum of 20 ppm of gluten.
The patent (No. US 20180236453 A1 filed) details a mechanical system of achieving oat grains with gluten levels below 20 parts per million (ppm) and, more preferably, below 10 ppm.
The Minneapolis-based company’s patent outlines a series of mechanical operations that differ from traditional procedures to avoid contamination.
It has devised a series of operations – or a combination of series and parallel operations – to ensure cross-contamination is kept to a minimum, including width grading, multiple length grading steps and a potential debearding step.
Gluten-free Cheerios
The resulting oats may be used in gluten-free oat food products, including cereal and granola.
The company was forced to recall its gluten-free Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios in 2016, following wheat contamination. The recall affected an estimated 1.8 million boxes.
In 2014, General Mills filed three international patents for ready-to-bake gluten-free dough for pies, cookies and pizzas.
The gluten-free flour mixtures are made up of rice, millet and sorghum flours, as well as potato, corn and tapioca starch.
‘There is demand for ready-to-bake gluten-free products that can go directly from the refrigerator to the oven or other associated baking appliance,’ the company said at the time.
