Help me understand-checking if this is true

[Kathryn W]

RE: Amazing Grass Greens Blend, specifically Detox & Digest 

The company states their products are gluten free, but it includes Wheat Grass and Barley Grass as ingredients. The company states that since the grass is harvested before the germ appears, their products are completely gluten free.  I’m curious, is this true? Has anyone tried this product? It seems like if it really is gluten free, it would be a good smoothie additive. 

[Kathryn W]

I was really hoping someone would reply to my question of why wheat and barley grass can be gluten free. I did read an explanation on the website stating if the plant hasn’t produced a germ then it’s still gluten free. I’m interested in micro greens and this product fits in well with that. I wanted to add them to my smoothies and salads for probiotics… 

Has anyone safety used products with wheat and barley grass? 

[Wheatwacked]

Hello Kathryn W. Sorry for the delay.

According to the USDA Dept of Agricultural Research Service  it is indeed gluten free. "ELISA data confirmed wheat leaves are devoid of gluten proteins as measured by specific antibody binding. Therefore, wheat grass contains no gluten and is safe for consumption by patients suffering from celiac disease or other gluten related disorders."

Given the degree of cross contamination with other grains , I would be very wary.

[Scott Adams]

The issue I have with wheat and barley grasses are that they can often end up contaminated due to how they are processed. For example, I've personally witnessed a Jamba Juice employee cut wheat grass to put in a juicer that had a couple of seed kernels mixed into it (not sure if Jamba Juice still does it this way, as it was many years back). Because the kernels got mixed in not only was the wheat grass shot I ordered not safe, but the juicer machine was also contaminated. 

My point is that how can you be sure that the same thing is not going on when they are doing this on a large scale? How could they harvest the wheat grass without getting any kernels mixed in?