Purity Protocol is a Start Safe, Stay Safe, farm-to-plate method of ensuring oats are gluten-free. It was developed by pedigreed seed growers to provide people who have celiac disease, gluten-intolerance or wheat allergies with clean, safe gluten-free oat ingredients.
Though oats are naturally gluten-free, they can be contaminated with gluten-containing grains, such as wheat, rye, barley and triticale and grain dust. The shape and color of oat kernels makes it especially difficult to clean out these impurities.
The success of Avena Purity Protocol relies on the collaboration, contributions and accountability of each member of the supply chain. Since 2008, Avena Purity Protocol has developed as an integrated approach to preventing contamination throughout the entire supply chain. This multi-layered strategy is grounded in the knowledge that no single control step is adequate to control gluten-contamination. Rather, success lies in multiple controls, both physical and chemical.
Purity Protocols start with seed selection and incorporate a system of checks and balances from the field, to delivery and milling. This allows oats to remain gluten-free. Partnerships with farmers are key to these protocols, as are seed stock purity and criteria for growing, harvesting, transporting, storing and processing oats.
The minimum requirements for Purity protocol are set out in the article Definition of the “Purity Protocol” for Producing Gluten-Free Oats* published in Cereal Chemistry, January, 2017. This definition does not go as far as incorporating gluten-testing protocols throughout the system or of final product.
Avena Purity Protocol Moves Beyond the Minimum Requirements of Purity Protocol