Since I'm new to the gluten free diet, do you avoid this, or do you not worry about it? I'm sort of confused regarding this.

thanks for the help.

It is possible that modified food starch is made from gluten, but 99.9% is not, at least in the USA. If it's made from wheat, companies are now required to list it since it's a top 8 allergen. Of course, that doesn't help if it's made from barley. In general, I don't worry too much about it. I tend to buy safe brands and most companies are owned by one of the big food companies so unless I have reason to doubt the brand, I don't call on it. And if I doubt the brand, I'm probably not going to be buying them anyway. I used to be the biggest bargain shopper - whatever was cheapest. Now I'm a loyal brand follower. If I know a brand is safe, I buy it to support them and to keep me healthy.

There is another HUGE thread about this from awhile back!

When in doubt call the company!!!!!!! Especially if it doesn't say "Modified Corn Starch".

I met with a dietician yesterday and she said that the FDA requires them to list if it's wheat, but I guess they don't always do that (or like a pp said, it could be barley, rye, or oats). But, we should be able to assume it's corn starch. I think I'm only going to use things with modified food starch if I've seen the product on a gluten-free list.

If the label doesn't specify which type of food starch, I always call the company. The label could be an old one and not listing wheat as an ingredient.

You're not going to find MFS made from oats or rye, and I can't ever remember finding it made from barley. I can't even remember finding it made from wheat, but legally it can be. It's usually from corn and sometimes from things like potato and tapioca. I'm no expert in the food industry, but in my personal opinion, MFS is extremely low on our risk list.

richard

I completely agree with Richard. Not everybody will.

Does anyone know the real deal behind corn starch? I ask because at one of my local organic food stores - which has a gluten free section - they sell bags of "gluten free corn starch". Once I saw this, I had to wonder.. Is normal corn starch unsafe? Or is it just some kind of marketing ploy? And what of the litany of products - esp. sauces and dressings etc. - which contain modified corn starch? Is this safe?

Any help here will be greatly appreciated,
thanks

The dietician that we went to said that the only modified food starch we needed to worry about was from wheat. In other words it's not made from barley, rye, or oats. She said if you can tell that they are using the new labeling laws (calling out some other allergen like milk or soy or something) then its OK (of course, assuming it did not call out wheat).

I think corn starch is just corn starch. I don't have any packaging to check but I don't think they add anything to keep it "free flowing". I know that in our health food store, they don't put it in the gluten free isle unless it says gluten free on the packaging somewhere - they aren't going to take the time to read labels and check ingredients even if there is only one ingredient to read.