Peas not immune to gluten phobia

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Almost one-third of Canadians now avoid gluten, so it's no surprise consumption of wheat and other small grains that contain the protein is dwindling. But less is known about the effect the food craze is having on pea production – and some in the industry would like to keep it that way.

Kent County pea grower John Lugtigheid recalls a major problem with volunteer wheat in pea crops six or seven years ago. Since then, people have learned their lesson and "don't plant peas after wheat."

But the popularity of cover crops presents a renewed risk of volunteer wheat, and this spring both the Ontario agriculture ministry and the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers reminded pea growers in separate online notices to use an effective herbicide to burn down their cover crop if it contained wheat or when planting after wheat.

Elaine Roddy, the province's vegetable specialist, published her article on April 30. Six days later, it disappeared from the ministry's website at the request of food processor Bonduelle, the major buyer of Ontario's 17,000 acres of processing peas.

Both Roddy and Bonduelle representative Jennifer Thompson declined interviews with Better Farming, explaining they don't want any public concerns about processing peas to be raised.
It appears that even the mention of contamination within the context of having successfully eradicated the problem is enough to provoke "gluten phobia."  

Gluten presents a significant health risk to the roughly 300,000 Canadians diagnosed with celiac disease. But celiac sufferers represent merely three per cent of the 10 million Canadians that now avoid the protein. BF