Are There Unsafe Chemicals Found in Our GF Oats

March 13, 2023

We have tested our oats to Nil glyphosate

The short answer is NO! There are no unsafe chemicals found in our oats. This answer comes from tests in our compliance with our farmers as part of the international Oats Protocol guidelines we follow.

Glyphosate is the activated chemical ingredient found in Roundup and over 700 other garden and agricultural products, found in Oats and associated oat products in agriculture.

Glyphosate has been used for over 50 years now to assist with weed prevention. I'm sure many of you have used or maybe are still using a herbicide of some sort to assist you to control weeds around your home. Effectively that is why farmers predominately use herbicides to control weeds at a commercial level.

More recently we have been made aware that farming practices had turned to use Roundup to dry crops, more commonly used in wheat production. They spray close to harvest to ensure that the plants are all dead at harvest time. Of course, Organic farming does not use any Glyphosate-based products.

What the Experts Say

Many health and agricultural experts say that humans don't absorb glyphosate in the same way they do harmful chemicals like DDT. So it's safe in low quantities.

In 2015, however, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen after studies linked it to non-Hodgkin‚ lymphoma. In 2016, the FDA announced that it would begin testing for glyphosate in four widely used crops:¬†soybeans, corn, milk, and eggs.

To help ease any concerns, we have included some information below, from relevant sources to better understand these practices if you were not already aware of them.

I have added some excerpts, links and information below so you can follow through on the story if you are not aware of these practices.

Summary of a News Report:

As reported by CNN, glyphosate is a herbicide that has been used since 1974 and is used to kill broadleaf plants and grasses, particularly on farms, agricultural aquatic systems, gardens, residential lawns and more. It recently came to light after a study from the Environmental Working Group that dozens of oat products were contaminated with the chemical after numerous toxicology tests. This is alarming as California state scientists had marked glyphosate as a chemical to watch out for after conducting cancer risk assessments.

It might not seem like a big deal but their report explained that simply having two cups of cereal with contaminated oats a day, could be accumulating and causing a one in a million risk of cancer due to this chemical. During the study, only 2 out of the 45 oat products that were tested did not come back positive for any glyphosate, with many companies assuring customers that adding glyphosate is not in any part of their manufacturing process but instead what is used on the farmland itself where the oats are grown. With even 5 out of 16 organic oat food samples coming back positive for the chemical, we made sure to investigate our suppliers to confirm that they do not use glyphosate on the premises. This has emphasised the importance of ensuring food products don't use chemicals in any part of the process, even outside of manufacturing.

We hope that this blog post has shed some light on this situation and know that we are aware of this study and the ramifications that it holds for other oat companies. At GF Oats, we are dedicated to providing you with the best oats that aren't contaminated with any chemicals that make affect your health.