There has been recent speculation about the safe supply of chia seeds, and Glanbia Nutritionals’ General Manager Anne Brown says that the kill step when processing raw ingredients such as chia is crucial.
“If you’re not using a kill step in your process, you should not be using a raw grain. In dairy that’s obvious to people, but in grains, it appears to be less so,” she told Food Navigator-USA. “Some of our very big customers are extremely aware of this and are ready to back the technology to put the public at risk, but there’s still some misunderstanding.”
Chia is full of protein, calcium, fiber, omega-3 fatty acid, alpha linoleic acid antioxidants. Flax is also high in protein, fiber and omega-3s. However, there have been concerns about unsterilized chia as a recent salmonella outbreak that spread to over 50 people in the U.S. and Canada was linked to the consumption of chia powder. Glanbia has opened a food-grade processing facility in South Dakota that is specifically built to closely monitor the processing.
