Gluten
From time to time you may notice that some of our labels will carry the statement “May contain traces of gluten” so we thought we’d better explain this to you in more detail. Gluten, in the form of wheat starch, is not added to most spices. If it is (in the case of asafoetida) it will be clearly stated within the ingredient listing on the label. However, in some instances we cannot guarantee that products don’t contain traces of gluten, due to cross contamination during growing, harvesting, transportation or processing.
FSANZ (Food Standards Australia & New Zealand) is not helping to alleviate this problem by not setting a minimum standard of 20ppm (parts per million), which is the standard in many countries including the USA, and one which coeliacs (those who are gluten intolerant) are happy with. By electing to set no minimum level as a standard, even if 3ppm or 5ppm of gluten is detected, FSANZ makes it obligatory to state that the product may contain traces of gluten. Just one or two grains of wheat in a 25 kilo bag of Australian grown fenugreek seeds can give a positive reading.
This has become a very complex issue, and we are reluctant to just put a blanket disclaimer statement on all labels as it makes life even harder for allergy sufferers. We hope that one day a more international standard will be adopted, which would appear to provide more meaningful information for both those intolerant to gluten, and companies who make every effort to supply products with no added gluten.