Gluten Free Living – Caramel Coloring... a Dark Subject!
I decided to do some research on caramel coloring because I
get emailed questions from people and rather than sending out
separate emails all the time I’d like to give a more detailed
answer. The question I most recently received was about caramel
coloring in Coke, so I’ll talk about that specifically, but also
the general problems with caramel coloring first.
Surprisingly, the first thing you will discover when looking
into this is a lot of confusion as to whether caramel coloring
is safe to ingest if you have gluten intolerance. It is
surprising because you tend to think (especially when you’re
newly diagnosed) in this day and age that ingredients are
well-defined both as product inclusions and manufacturing
processes. But one person says something and then another person
says something else and the next thing you know the truth has
been distorted or misquoted. My friend has called this “pooling
our ignorance together.” I guess that’s why a Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is essential for food safety.
When I research a food ingredient, I often start with the FDA.
Their website is at http://www.fda.gov/.
They are currently working on a proposed rule that defines
“gluten-free”. The problem that has arisen for us is that some
foods, while they don't appear to have wheat or gluten
containing grains, they do contain the derivatives of
them. So, potentially manufacturers could be labeling
products as gluten free or wheat free, when in fact they do
contain some gluten. The question is "how much?"
I don’t know about you, but I get upset when I eat something
supposedly gluten-free and then get sick due to a gluten
reaction. Anyone who has Celiac disease recognizes the symptoms
of gluten exposure. I get stomach pains first. My girl friend
gets stomach cramps, quickly followed by diarrhea because she is
more sensitive than me.
The FDA is proposing that any food with an ingredient that
“results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more
gluten in the food; or 20 ppm or more gluten” cannot be labeled
as gluten free.
You're probably asking yourself right about now
what this has to do with caramel coloring! Well, for starters, a
product that does not contain gluten may not be gluten free. So
my next question naturally is, “Coke does not contain grains,
but is it gluten free?”
Caramel coloring is what gives Coke, and other dark colas, the
coloring. And caramel coloring is used in other food products
too. For example, caramel coloring is in soy sauce, cookies,
juices and some seasonings. Caramel coloring can be manufactured
using different grains. In the United States, it is normally
made with high dextrose corn syrup. But it is also infrequently
made with barley. Dextrose is sugar and is safe. Barley is an
unsafe starch for a Celiac.
This can be very confusing for people, and I’ve seen it in
various forums and in my email box. Some people believe that
many of the Coke products are safe to drink. Others think you
should stay away from any product containing caramel coloring.
The Coca-Cola company makes this statement on their website:
“We are able to confirm that, in the U.S. and Canada, the
following products are gluten free:
Coca-Cola classic
caffeine free Coca-Cola classic
Coca-Cola Blak
Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla
Coca-Cola C2
Coca-Cola with Lime
Coca-Cola Zero
Barq's root beer
caffeine free Barq's root beer
diet Barq's root beer
diet Barq's Red Creme Soda
Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla
Diet Coke
Diet Coke with Lime
caffeine free Diet Coke
Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda
Sprite
Diet Sprite Zero
Cherry Coke
Diet Cherry Coke
Fresca
DASANI Lemon
Minute Maid Light Lemonade
Simply Lemonade
Simply Limeade
POWERade Mountain Blast
and 100% of juice products (without added ingredients) are
gluten free.
Additionally, we can tell you that all of our other products
meet Codex's definition of gluten-free, which is currently less
than 200 ppm (parts per million) (0.02%) gluten. Codex is in the
process of reviewing this standard and we are monitoring the
progress closely. At this time the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration does not have a regulatory definition of
gluten-free.”
So, this is good news and bad news. The most common Coke
products (for the US anyways) are gluten-free. For the rest of
them, the problem is the FDA, as I discussed at that beginning
of this article, defines gluten-free as 20 ppm, not 200 ppm!
According to the recommended FDA definition of gluten free, most
of the other Coca Cola products may not be gluten free. That
means if you are a Celiac, it might not be a good idea for you
to drink the other products with caramel coloring.
So how do you know if caramel coloring is safe? It always goes
back to the same procedures I followed for the above product. I
ask! If a food product has caramel coloring listed as an
ingredient, I need to call the company or check their website
and ask them to tell me the parts per million of gluten. If it
is over 20 ppm, or they can’t tell me, I don’t eat or drink it.
I think it is tempting for gluten intolerant people to sometimes
push the limit of what they can eat or drink. I know this not
only from my own life but also from listening to people in the
Gluten Free Club and in my email box. It gets tiring always
worrying about every food item. Different people have different
reactions. Some have minor reactions to minor gluten exposure.
Others have major reactions to any gluten. That is one reason
the ppm was set so low by the FDA. If you are gluten intolerant,
it is always best to play it safe. The long term affects of
gluten exposure can be devastating even if you’re not getting
really sick. The effects of gluten exposure can be cumulative
too.
There are a lot of differing opinions concerning caramel
coloring safety for Celiacs. My best advice is to remain
cautious, and when in doubt about the safety of any ingredient,
don’t eat the food or drink the drink! If you want to look at
additional lists of safe and unsafe foods you can visit
www.GlutenFreeClub.com/members.
Thanks,
Angie Halten
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