Determination of gluten residue contents in wheat germ products
2001
Oldani, A. | Iametti, S. | Bonomi, F. | Cappelletti, C. (Milan Univ. (Italy). Dipartimento di Scienze Molecolari Agroalimentari) | Scafuri, L. (Associazione Italiana Celiachia, Milan (Italy))
Physicians do not recommend the consumption of wheat germ or of wheat germ oil by coeliac people on the questionable basis of their possible contamination with gluten. However, as of today, no analytical data are available on the gluten content of wheat germ oil or of other wheat germ-based foods. In this work, residual gluten was determined through an ELISA assay performed on the residue after removal of the lipid phase from products based on wheat germ oil. The test had a sensitivity much higher than the recommended limit suggested by Codex for gluten in foods to be consumed by coeliac individuals (i.e., 100 ppm or 10 mg/l00 g). Wheat germ oil and its derivatives had a gluten content lower than that detectable by the ELISA assay. Therefore, the bias against wheat germ oil consumption by coeliac individuals on the basis of the presence of residual gluten - as hypothesized by some physicians - is not supported by our analytical findings. On the contrary, products based on whole wheat germ cannot be considered as gluten free products. Their gluten content is much higher than the upper limit indicated by Codex (100 ppm) for a gluten-free product
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