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Patent application says gluten-free oats could be used in a range of gluten-free oat food products |
A patent application by US cereal giant General Mills on a method and system designed to establish gluten-free oats has been published in the US.
According to the application, published on 21 July, the patent covers "various mechanical differentiation operations on a combination of grains, including oat grains and gluten-containing grains, [that] allow the oat grains to have gluten levels below 20 parts per million (ppm.), preferably ten ppm.
The application said the gluten-free oats could be used in a range of gluten-free oat food products, including cereal and granola lines.
US federal government rules require products labelled as gluten-free to have a maximum gluten level of 20 ppm.
In July, General Mills said its cereal brand Cheerios was going gluten free in Canada and offering five different varieties. It launched gluten-free Cheerios in the US last year.