The only way to guarantee a truly gluten free diet is to prepare and cook all of your meals from home. For most of us, this is wildly unrealistic and we need to supplement with packaged or processed food at least once in a while.
While most food that contains gluten carries a warning on the bottom, you still MUST read labels. Some foods that contained gluten or gluten by products simply do not carry the warning. These are some of the more common hidden sources of gluten:
Modified Food Starch- This is usually a derivative of corn, but can sometimes be a derivative of wheat, barley or rye.
Malt- Food containing any kind of malt, like malt vinegar, malted milk, is a no-go. Malt is usually made of barley.
Brewer's Yeast- This can sometimes be a by-product of beer and is, therefore, unsafe, but regular yeast is usually ok.
Hydrolyzed Protein- These may or may not be derived from gluten and you may want to either contact the manufacturer or just avoid products containing these ingredients all together
Some Food Colorings- Food colorings can be made of wheat and it may be necessary to contact the manufacturer to find out if they use gluten in their products.
Flavoring- Most foods that list flavoring as an ingredient are safe to eat, but it's worth checking with the manufacturer.
This is a more complete list of unsafe and cautionary foods.
This is a list with ingredient details.
Stay tuned for more tips and tricks on avoiding gluten and dining out!
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