White, Melting

This past week’s shipment of low gluten altar bread contained a surprise.
Yikes. They are white.

Read more about the low gluten bread here.

One of our parishioners reported to me the new host “melted in her mouth.”

This will probably be a favorable development, as the former recipe produced small rounds that were the color of potato chips, and had a certain sound not dissimilar to them.

Are these products safe for those sensitive?

Since we began selling these breads we have served over 2000 celiac sufferers. Our low gluten altar breads were featured in an article in the magazine Gluten-Free Living. The editorial and accompanying write-up cited data from the Center for Celiac Research that showed that the less than 0.01% gluten content of our breads would be perfectly safe for most celiacs. The article states

The measurement cited here, 0.01%, represents 100 PPMs (parts per million). But the more important number is 37 micrograms, because it is daily exposure to gluten that counts. The best current information shows that 10 milligrams a day should be safe.

Ten milligrams is the same as 10,000 micrograms. If you divide 37 micrograms into 10,000 micrograms, you will find that you would have to eat 270 wafers every day to reach the danger point. At most, celiacs would consume one wafer per day or about 0.04% (four tenths of one percent) of the amount considered dangerous.