Development of an integrated pure oats cultivation and processing chain for patients suffering from coeliac disease

Abstract

Coeliac disease is caused by the protein gluten found in most monocotyledonous cereal crops e.g. wheat, barley and rye. Rice, maize and sorghum do not contain gluten and thus are suitable for coeliac patients. Many research results also support the suitability of oat products for consumption by coeliac patients. Oats form an acceptable diet of coeliac patients in Finland, Sweden, Norway and UK. Oat products for coeliac patients must be marketed in Finland with the claim: contains oats and gluten-free compounds . A high number of foreign grains often limits the suitability of oats for consumption by coeliac patients. The objective of the project was to develop an integrated pure oats cultivation and processing chain, which meant fewer than 6 seeds of foreign cereal grains per kilogram of oats. The project was financed by European Guidance and Guarantee Fund, local communities and companies. The pure oats cultivation chain was controlled at every step: sowing of seed, cultivation, harvesting, transport from fields to farm, drying, storage, and transport of harvested grain from farm to industry. The fields were cleaned of foreign cereals twice during growing season. The number of foreign seeds was counted from farm samples and samples taken from the truck transporting the pure oats. The pure oats processing chain from receiving, hulling and milling all the way to packing was also tightly controlled. The final gluten (gliadin) contents were analysed from both oat samples and oat products (AOAC 991: 19). All the final gluten contents of both pure oats samples and products were below 0.002 g/100 g grains oats. In the first year 7 farmers took part in the project; 42 % of their oat fields were approved during the field inspections. In the second year 4 farmers cultivated pure oats; all their oat fields were approved in the field inspections. The project educated farmers in the techniques for growing and handling pure oats and resulted in development of a quality control system for processing pure oat products.