As you all know oats have always been a questionable food item in the world of Celiac’s. In fact, as I rattle off the explanation of disallowed foods on the gluten-free diet, I always include oats…."No wheat, rye, oats or barley". But now it appears things are changing.

The problem with oats has really been cross-contamination more than harmful gluten. It is said that only a very small segment of the gluten intolerant community has a true problem with any oats. Most Celiac’s have very little problems with oats, in and of themselves. As mentioned, the big problem has been with a very high risk of cross contamination from the big culprits; wheat, rye, and barley. The problem starts in the fields with residual contaminating plants that are there because of remnant grain in the field from a pervious year or unclean seeding equipment that was used to plant this year’s oat crop. The next opportunities for cross contamination are in the harvesting and transportation equipment. So what’s this all mean? Well, it means that oats could and would be safe if properly grown, harvested and transported in a gluten-free environment. And the good news is someone is now doing just that!

Gifts of Nature, Inc. has aligned with a small grower cooperative that is operated under a Gluten-Free production protocol. This protocol starts with field preparation, seeding and harvesting with clean, dedicated equipment as well as transportation in dedicated grain tote bags. When the harvest is complete each lot of oats is Elisa tested and then rolled in a cold roll process. This method does not require steam or drying and thereby retains all the natural oat flavor and nutrition. The rolled oats are then bagged and shipped to Gifts of Nature’s dedicated gluten-free facility where they are again tested for gluten content before being placed into retail packages and shipped to customers across the country. Gifts of Nature’s oats have been certified gluten-free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization. This certification includes an on-site inspection of facilities, testing of ingredients for gluten content, evaluation of company policies and procedures and on-going inspections as well as random sampling and testing of packaged product from the retail shelves.

Gifts of Nature Certified Gluten-free Rolled Oats are an old fashioned style oat which means they are a little thicker and require a slightly longer cook time when preparing hot cereal but require no cooking adjustment for other items like cookies.

To find out more about gluten-free oats and Gifts of Nature, Inc. you can visit www.giftsofnature.net.

-Glutenfreeda