Gluten Free Watchdog Statement on Purity Protocol Oat Suppliers
UPDATED OCTOBER 24, 2019. There is no standardized definition for purity protocol oats*. As a result, not all oats promoted by suppliers as purity protocol are the same. At this time, Gluten Free Watchdog includes five companies in our listing of suppliers providing purity protocol oats to manufacturers, namely Avena Foods, GF Harvest, Montana Gluten-Free Processors, MGM Seed & Grain, and Glanbia Nutritionals. You can read about their protocols at https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-produced-under-a-gluten-free-purity-protocol-listing-of-suppliers-and-manufacturers/
*GFCO along with representatives from Avena Foods, GF Harvest, Montana Gluten-Free Processors, and Cream Hill Estate (no longer in business) co-authored a paper entitled ”Definition of the Purity Protocol for Producing Gluten-Free Oats.” Regardless, GFWD was advised via email from GFCO that they do not verify purity protocol claims made by oat processors.
SUPPLIERS: If you would like to be included in the listing available at the above link, please send an email to: (info@glutenfreewatchdog.org). To be included in the listing your email must:
- Describe in detail your purity protocol (see examples of information provided by other suppliers at the above link).
- Provide information on your testing protocol (see examples of information provided by other suppliers).
Comments (9)
Wow that’s a switch! I wonder what happened? GFCO seemed so gung ho about coming up with a standard. I was expecting it to work a bit like PCO does for Grass fed / Organic labeling of beef. Thank you for maintaining the original list of trustworthy oat sources. GFCO also has a food service certification, but I’ve hardly ever heard a thing about it. If it wasn’t on their website I wouldn’t have known.
My friend recommended Dandy Blend for me to replace for coffee since I am allergic to coffee. I also have celiac disease and just read a comment from a consumer stating that blend is not Gluten Free even though it was labeled as gluten-free, She mentioned we can have information in this website, could you please help?
Thanks.
Hi Graciela. My recommendation, based on ingredients and testing is to avoid Dandy Blend if you have celiac disease.
Glutenfreeda brand oatmeal was bought by Lilly B. Their oatmeal used to be certified GF to 5 parts per million. Now their box says “Purity Protocol.” But they don’t say whether their oats are tested for purity and to what level. Why are “gluten free” brands abandoning the certified GF testing for “purity protocol”? Feels like an elaborate way to capture the market without the expense or effort of actual standardized testing. Without hard data, I can’t eat “gluten free” oats. Your thoughts? Thanks!
Hi Bess, We’ve reached out to Glutenfreeda/Lilly B about the change in packaging but haven’t heard back. As a result, this brand has been removed from the listing of manufacturers using purity protocol oats until we have more information.
I wonder if you could comment on Costco’s relatively new item: One Degree Organic Foods gluten-free sprouted rolled oats. I have checked their website and entered the clean source code as suggested on the packaging but it doesn’t bring up anything. TJ’s gf oats seem to be problematic for me so I am looking for a new source of readily available gf oats.
Thank you for you thoughts.
Hi Colleen, I don’t know the source of oats used by One Degree (purity protocol or sorted). At this time, based on the totality of information available to Gluten Free Watchdog, we remain supportive of the use of purity protocol oats sourced from GF Harvest, Avena Foods, Montana Gluten-Free Processors, Glanbia Nutritionals, and MGM Seed & Grain Purity Protocol Oats by persons with celiac disease and gluten-related disorders who tolerate oats. With the exception of Quaker gluten-free oats, we are NOT supportive of the use of any other product containing mechanically/optically sorted oats, including gluten-free Cheerios, gluten-free Lucky Charms, and gluten-free and certified gluten-free products from manufacturers sourcing oats from Grain Millers or La Crosse Milling. The above is true regardless of test results. You can read more about oats at https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-and-the-gluten-free-diet-qa-part-1/ and https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-and-the-gluten-free-diet-qa-part-2/
Tricia, thank you so very much for your tireless effort especially on this gf oats subject. What is the easiest way to find out which foods are using the oats you support? Quaker and GF Harvest are fairly easy but I haven’t been able to determine what food brands use Avena, Glanbia, or MGM. Thanks in advance. Happy New Year!
Hi Julie. It isn’t necessarily all that easy. You have to ask and many manufacturers are not all that forthcoming. Some manufacturers are listed at https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/oats-produced-under-a-gluten-free-purity-protocol-listing-of-suppliers-and-manufacturers/. This list will be verified again soon.