Recently I wrote (about the mattress industry) consumer scams are designed to
mislead or part you from your money, and many are permitted under marketing
hyperbole.
I looked into the labelling of the breakfast
cereal oats. Tiger Consumer Brands’ Jungle Oats (various variants) and Pioneer
Foods’ Bokomo Oats Instant state “100% Wholegrain Pure Oats” prominently, but
in smaller print on the back of the package under ingredients says it’s actually
made from “oat flakes, gluten (allergen)”, i.e., wheat, barley or rye.
A popular “health food” brand sold in
supermarkets, pharmacies and health shops says “oats is naturally free from
wheat” but the ingredients states: “oats, gluten”. Other brands including Woolworths, Pick ‘n
Pay, Checkers and Spar house brands also have “oats” containing gluten, but at
least they don’t claim its “100% pure wholegrain oats”.
This is significant to me because as a
non-coeliac gluten sensitivity sufferer I’m trying to find an alternative for gluten-containing
products, which is difficult because many processed foods and snacks – I’m
surprised by the number – contain wheat.
My internet search said according the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center "oats are technically gluten-free since
they aren’t a type of wheat, barley or rye containing the protein gluten; oats
have a protein called avenins", research
While the medical evidence may not be conclusive, it appears avenins may
be safe for people with coeliac diseases and gluten sensitivity.
Until now I was so sure oats was
gluten-free. Last week I emailed Tiger
Brands about the exact composition of Jungle Oats, which I have been eating
since I was a child. They replied they
would “further assist” but have not done so.
What we
have here is a food industry where “oats” are not pure oats but a combination
of oat grains mixed with other grains, typically ubiquitous wheat, which is commercially
known as “oat flakes” (Tiger Brands confusingly calls it “alpha flakes”). How many other foods are affected by similar
deception?
The Department of Health’s Food Control
directorate “is responsible for ensuring the safety of
food based on the basic needs of communities and the right of South Africans to
make informed food choices without being misled”.
Their food labelling
regulations (R146) quantitative ingredient declarations (QUID) states: “When
labelling places emphasis on one or more ingredients [e.g., “100% pure oats],
the ingoing percentage should be declared in brackets [near] the words,
illustrations or graphics referring to the ingredient/s."
From what I’ve seen “oats” is a generic term for
an oat flavoured cereal, and it
appears certain brands – Tiger Brands (Jungle Oats variants) in particular and
to a lesser extent Pioneer (Bokomo Instant) that claim 100% pure wholegrain
oats – are not complying with QUID.
In the post-truth era not all is as it seems,
even with traditional food stapels. And Food
Control’s claim we have a right to make informed food choices without being
misled is hollow because enforcement is absent in a near free-for-all
environment.
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