Gluten’s Secret Hiding Places

Gluten is in more than just your typical flour, barley, and rye foods. If you are gluten intolerant or are just exploring a gluten-free diet, here is a helpful list of foods that may have hidden gluten ingredients. Believe me, you’ll be surprised where gluten pops up.

1. Sausages – usually made with bread and other fillers, you can expect the majority of packaged sausages to contain some gluten.
2. Low fat dairy products – sometimes used as thickeners, you can find gluten in low/no-fat dairy products like milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, soft cheese, or mayonnaise.
3. Alcoholic drinks – beer, whisky, vodka, and more.
4. Deli meats – processed meat in general will usually have some type of gluten added in the preservation ingredients.
5. Flavored coffee, tea, and syrups – take a close look at what you are drinking. Many flavored beverages, including coffee and tea, have gluten added to the artificial flavoring.
6. Salad dressing – similar to gluten found in beverages and low-fat dairy products, gluten can be added to salad dressings as a thickener.
7. Soy sauce – if you are eating-out or eating-in, know that soy sauce is made with wheat. Shoot for “gluten-free” tamari as an alternative. (Here’s a post about tamari).
8. Gum and candy – lots of chewy, sweet snacks and treats contain gluten. Take a look at the ingredients because you may be getting more than just sugar and flavoring.
9. Stamps and envelopes – yes it’s not food, but you still may be putting your lips on something that you wouldn’t think has gluten. If you didn’t know, “gluten” is short for glue, so many adhesives may have gluten in them.
10. Processed foods in general – almost 100% of commonly processed foods have gluten in them. Whether it’s a primary ingredient or a filler ingredient, gluten and wheat flour can be quite inexpensive to add to any packaged food.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES (on food labels)

If you flip over your food packages and start reading, you may find gluten under these ingredients:

• all purpose flour
• artificial flavoring/natural flavoring
• barley
• bread crumbs
• brewer’s yeast
• bulgar / bulgar wheat
• caramel color
• dextrin
• durum
• glucose syrup
• hydrolyzed wheat protein
• kamut
• malt, malt syrup, (or anything that says malt)
• matzo
• modified starch
• modified wheat starch
• monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• oats (unless it’s certified gluten-free)
• rye
• seitan
• semolina
• spelt
• surumi
• textured vegetable protein
• tricticale
• tricticum
• vegetable gum
• wheat berries
• wheat germ

READ MORE: WHAT IS GLUTEN-FREE (AND IS IT REALLY GOOD FOR YOU)?

Resources: Kids with Food Allergies