We recently had an interesting email contact with a lady with celiac disease about whether chufas would be suitable for people with celiac disease. First a recap:
- wheat allergy is getting an allergic reaction to wheat, other grains can be eaten though
- glutensitivity you can have if you are tested for wheat allergy or celiac disease, it is not detectable but you still suffer from gluten
- celiac disease (or gluten intolerance), being unable to tolerate gluten at all
The latter was fodder for something I didn't know. I thought, chufas are gluten-free and therefore suitable for people with celiac disease. Through the lady of mail contact, I found out that there is a limit up to when a product can be called gluten-free. That limit is 20 ppm, or 20 milligrams per kilo. This 20 milligrams is a safe standard for most celiacs, but can still cause problems for a few who are extremely sensitive.
Every step in the production process can pose a risk ...
So her question was, how are the chufas harvested, transported, packaged and shipped? Easy to find out, however, it is not, and ultimately it does not guarantee that the chufa 100% is gluten-free.
Because from a given, a gluten-free product the chufa, you come to process, namely a controlled certification system. Our supplier is certified gluten-free, we ourselves are not as this costs a lot of money but we do work gluten-free.
However, if a certificate does not comply (because of the 20 ppm limit which is still too high for extremely sensitive celiacs), you actually come down to randomness, chance and luck. Luck if the driver of the tractor or employee in Spain does not eat a wheat sandwich or the farmer in Africa (Niger) happens not to have some wheat at home. Even though we gain insight into this randomness and chance, it suggests security which is probably not there.
A 100% waterproof system
I pointed her to the one system which does make 100% foolproof - the body! Whether it was an option to eat one chufa. She ended up eating a handful of chufa with fortunately a good outcome. No trouble at first. To be sure, she had to test more often and for longer.
Again, for most people with coeuliakia, 'gluten-free' is enough!
For more information, see The Dutch Celiac Association NCV.
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