Question about wheat exposure in my profession

[Grace Mattaliano]

Hello everyone!

I am a college senior doing a capstone project on wheat starch paste being used in paper conservation labs as an adhesive. It is the most common adhesive used, and conservators make it every week, often multiple times a week. I realized that this might be a problem for aspiring conservators who have celiac disease or wheat allergy when I was making it during my summer internship in art conservation. I am gluten intolerant myself so was a bit cautious while handling, but realized it might pose a way bigger risk to people who have celiac and wheat allergies. My project will focus on viable alternatives to wheat starch paste so that aspiring conservators can safely work in a paper conservation lab with these diseases and allergies.

Before I go farther with my project, I wanted to ask you all if wheat starch paste actually is dangerous for people with celiac and wheat allergy to work with. I was operating under the assumption that it was, but was recently told that it might be wrong, so I would love to hear your input. 

We make wheat starch paste by scooping wheat starch into a pot, in which the wheat starch gets on our hands, on the table, and we also inhale it because it clouds into the air (for lack of better description). Then we heat and mix it for ~30 min. These exposures seem dangerous to me for people with celiac disease, because even microscopic particles could travel from your hands and clothes to food that you eat and make you sick.

Then, when it is ready to be used as an adhesive, conservators use their hands and tools to apply it to tears in paper, in which it also gets on hands.

So, what do you all think about this? Would handling wheat starch paste be dangerous for people with celiac disease and wheat allergies?

Also, please let me know if I should post this in another forum category, I wasn't sure which to post to.

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @Grace Mattaliano!

In order to answer your question, we need to know more about the wheat starch. Not all wheat starch is the same. Has the wheat starch being used in these projects been processed and chemically treated so as to remove the gluten (or most of it) such as we see in some "gluten free" pizza products or some bulk laxative products for instance? 

When I was a kid we used to make paper paste out of ordinary wheat flour which, of course, would have contained both the protein component (gluten) and the starch component. Just mixed a little water with it. Is this the kind of wheat starch being used in your projects?

Edited September 26, 2024 by trents

[Scott Adams]

Most wheat starch has most of the gluten removed, but only Codex wheat starch will test below 20ppm. It's clear that this type of work could never be done with someone who has a severe wheat allergy, not matter which wheat starch was used.

As for people with celiac disease, those who are highly sensitive or have dermatitis herpetiformis (the skin manifestation of celiac disease) would likely have issues doing this type of work, but many with celiac disease might be able to handle the wheat starch. It is very difficult to say exactly which celiacs might be ok, and which would not, but overall it's likely a job best avoided by those with celiac disease.

[Grace Mattaliano]

To @trents and @Scott Adams (sorry I don't know how to reply to specific posts!),

Thank you so much for your help! I did some research and have another question. It seems like all wheat starch used in most conservation labs should be gluten-reduced, but I am not sure if they are completely free of it. I found this description online: 

"AYTEX-P is an unmodified, highly purified wheat starch. It contains approximately 87% to 91% starch, 9% to 13% moisture, and less than 1% fibre, protein, and mineral matter from the wheat germ. Other sources of purified, food-grade wheat starch are available and may be more accessible." from https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/conservation-preservation-publications/canadian-conservation-institute-notes/wheat-starch-paste.html. 

Does this mean that there is less than 1% of gluten? It also seems that some labs will use less purified wheat starch because of accessibility issues, which could be a risk for people with celiac disease, especially with dermatitis herpetiformis as you mentioned. It sounds like it is less of a risk than I thought, but there is always a small chance of ingestion or skin contact if the conservator is highly sensitive. 

[trents]

Yes, it would mean that the wheat starch contains less that 1% gluten. Gluten is not the only protein in the wheat kernel: https://engrain.us/understanding-wheat-protein-content/

It sounds like to me you have a good handle on the variables and hence the questions. The only way to nail this down any further would be to have the starch in question tested for gluten content. The FDA standard for "Gluten Free" is 20 ppm and the GFCO standard for "Certified Gluten Free" is 10 ppm. Even then, the question of safety could not be answered for all celiacs because of the huge range in sensitivity. For some, even 10 ppm is enough to generate a celiac reaction. So, I think it would be impossible to answer the question of safety of the wheat paste adhesive for 100% of celiacs but it might be possible to answer it for the majority, as does the FDA standard of 20 ppm.

[Grace Mattaliano]

Thank you so much, this is extremely helpful! I will highlight this in my project and mention the huge range in sensitivity as well as the need for the paste to be below 10 ppm to be safe for most, but not all. I am going to focus my project both on finding alternatives for people with wheat allergies and celiac disease and also people who do not have access to wheat starch paste. Thanks again for all of your help.

[trents]

You are more than welcome. Blessings on your work in this area and thank you for watching out for those of us with gluten disorders.