You're Not Gluten Free, Quaker Oats.

At Fresh And Easy the other day we were shopping for things Wade could eat.  Down the breakfast aisle we went and grabbed a box of Kix and then stopped in front of the oats.  And for a little over $3, we found for sale a 2 lb. tube of Quaker Oats. 

Oats, from what I've learned, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology published a  study that concluded: “Long-term use of oats included in the gluten-free diets of patients with celiac disease does not stimulate an immunological response locally in the mucosa of the small intestine.”

TL;DR: oats are fine.

But--and there's always a but--Quaker Oats are considered to be "cross contaminated" with gluten.

Their website says this on the subject of whether their oats are gluten free:

Because oats are grown, stored, transported in bulk, they may contain trace amounts of wheat, rye and barley. USDA grain standards allow a certain percentage of other grains to be present in the oats. Therefore, gluten may be found in oats, even if very small amounts of these other grains are present.

This is kind of like how there are certain small percentages of bug guts in your bread because of how impossible it is to completely rid plants that are growing in fields of bugs, which are then accidentally ground up into our flours and such--not fun to think about but the USDA does let stuff slide.  Or at least that's what some teacher told me.  Sounds reasonable, anyway.

The thing with oats is that not all who are gluten sensitive are sensitive to specially certified gluten free oats such as Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats, Legacy Valley Certified Gluten Free Whole Grain Rolled Oats, and Gifts Of Nature Certified Gluten Free Rolled Oats.  But I read on a gluten free forum that a person who is newly diagnosed with gluten allergy/celiac disease should not consider oats until they have been dianosed for a year and have had your followup bloodwork done. The person's antibodies should be in the negative range before even bothering with the specialized oats.  The extra careful ones won't even consider oats as a viable option because of the risk for potential Wheat Turds (or worse for some people) involved. 

Generally speaking, unless it is 100% certified gluten free, it's not safe.  And even the list of "gluten aware" products at Fresh And Easy warn that even though the product does not contain gluten, it may be processed somewhere that it may become contaminated with gluten.  Only certain products from their list get the burgundy and green "gluten free" sticker on its shelf.  The Kix and the Jell-O to name a few. 

Besides the fact that it was made with Maltodextrin, the granola bar that set off Wade's horrible yet very telling bout of Wheat Turds a few weekends ago may have been made with contaminated oats. 

I've yet to find specialty oats anywhere but online at this time.  Though I did notice that Stater's sells the McCann's Irish Oats.  At almost $8 for a tall can I had to really stop and consider whether it was worth spending the money on, considering they didn't actually say that they were 100% safe and even though Willie really likes oatmeal, he's already got the big thing of Quaker Oats that Wade can't eat.  Dumping nearly $10 on something we basically already have and that may not be safe seemed dumb to me.  And it probably is.  Because McCann's has this to say about their oats:

All McCann’s oat products are processed in a dedicated oatmeal mill that handles only oatmeal. In the supply chain between farm and mill, there is a possible cross contamination with other grains, such as wheat and barley but we reckon that the level of non-oat grains to be less than 0.05%. Cleaning equipment within the milling process would remove the vast majority of these grains along with other elements such as stones, straw etc. But we cannot guarantee that McCann’s oats are totally gluten free and we recommend that consumers use their own judgement as to whether they wish to use our oatmeal or not. Many celiacs can tolerate our oatmeal products without any adverse effect but they may not suit those who are particularly sensitive.

So as whimsical and fitting as it would be to feed Wade "Irish Oats," even though he's actually Scottish as I've not a lick of Irish in me, it's just not safe.  Even though I would totally willingly drop $10 on something that is safe for him. 

Take for example the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix, which at $6 a bag (that makes one loaf,) I was willing to give it a try.  Results of that little experiment next time.