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Ingredients / Labeling

Is Olive Oil Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Yes – olive oil is gluten-free as long as it is made only from olives, as most are. Read the label because anything is possible, but so far I’ve not run into olive oil that contains gluten. Light olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, and plain olive oil are all gluten-free. Flavored olive oils are generally safe but remember to read the label, as always. Cooking oil labels, even when several ingredients are listed, are usually quite easy to read and understand.

Plain canola oil, soybean oil, and vegetable oil are all gluten-free. Other safe oils (assuming they are just made from oil – read the label) are grapeseed, sesame, safflower, coconut, corn, and peanut. Vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, is gluten-free – both the butter and original versions.

Annie’s Naturals makes some gluten-free herb dipping oils and flavored olive oils. All of the items in their line that are gluten-free are labeled as such. The company maintains a gluten-free product list on its website. Annie’s Naturals sells travel-sized salad dressings, including an olive oil packet. The travel-sized olive oil and many of the dressings are gluten-free, making them handy when traveling or eating out at a place that can’t confirm the safety of their dressings for you.

Most cooking oil sprays are gluten-free, but both Crisco and Pam brands make a cooking spray with flour. On those products, wheat is listed clearly on the label, as required by law. Some store brands might have a version of the cooking spray with flour but they will also list wheat on the label if present.

Five Guys Burgers has dedicated fryers and uses peanut oil for their fries. They are probably the best French fries I’ve ever had. Anyone who is allergic to peanuts would want to avoid the fries at Five Guys, but the oil is safe for people who can’t tolerate gluten. Remember to ask if a restaurant has a dedicated fryer for French fries before ordering. Many places use the same fryer for all fried foods and therefore all items cooked in the fryer contain gluten.

Is Rice Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Rice, in its pure form, is gluten-free. The problem you can run into with rice is the way it’s cooked, or rather what it’s cooked in. Many restaurants use chicken stock to cook their rice. Some chicken stocks contain gluten, so any rice cooked in such stocks is not gluten-free. Always ask about how rice is cooked when dining out unless you are ordering rice off a gluten-free menu. I’ve run into rice cooked in gluten-containing stocks when dining out more times than I can count. Since I always ask about rice before ordering, I’ve never unknowingly ordered any that contains gluten.

Another way to find gluten in rice in restaurants is in a sauce that is added to it. Sometimes it is possible to order safe, plain rice with no sauce and sometimes it’s not. It depends on whether the rice comes in a bag already in the sauce or if the sauce is made in-house and added to plain rice. Even when the latter happens, all the rice and sauce might be mixed up before each shift, so there is still no way to order plain gluten-free rice. It is quite annoying not to be able to have something as simple as rice when dining out, but it’s often a problem. Never assume anything is gluten-free when dining out.

Several rice products available at the grocery store contain gluten. At last check, every Rice-A-Roni product contained wheat. Don’t ask me why – the amount of products that companies add wheat to is mind-boggling. Lundberg Farms makes many wonderful gluten-free rice meals. Our house favorite is Creamy Parmesan Risotto. Tasty Bites makes several rice products that are gluten-free. They even make microwavable rice pouches that are ready in only 90 seconds. Both Lundberg and Tasty Bites’ gluten-free products are marked as such. Most of the Publix rice products are gluten-free but are not marked as such. Many of Uncle Ben’s rice products are gluten-free, but they were not labeled that way the last time I checked them at the store. As always, if the products are not marked gluten-free, a label reading is required.

Other brands that make some gluten-free rice products include (but are not limited to) Mahatma, Minute Rice, Thai Kitchen, Rice Select, and Ortega. Most of the gluten-free products from these lines are not labeled gluten-free so you have to read the labels to make sure you get a gluten-free product. When gluten is used in a rice product, it is generally in the form of wheat, which is legally required to be listed on the label. Therefore, hidden gluten is usually not a problem in rice products. There are a couple of items that list malt in the ingredients. The malt in these items is almost always barley malt, which should be avoided.

Labels on rice are some of the easiest to read and understand, in terms of what is and is not gluten-free. Rice pasta and rice noodles are also generally gluten-free and the ingredients in those are usually rice, rice bran, and water. Again, the labels for these are typically very easy to read and understand. Enjoy your rice, rice meals, and rice pasta. Luckily, these days there are plenty of safe options to choose from!

Does Cheese Contain Gluten?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Most cheeses are gluten-free, including bleu (or blue) cheese. For many years, bleu cheese was considered unsafe for those on the gluten-free diet because traditionally it was started with mold from gluten bread. Many bleu cheeses are not made that way these days, using an artificial starting agent instead of bread. However, even when bleu cheese is started from bread mold, testing of the finished product shows no detectable levels of bleu cheese. Therefore, the cheese is considered safe for those on the gluten-free diet. This is not new news as the discovery of blue cheese being safe dates back to 1992.

Statement from the Canadian Celiac Association regarding bleu cheese:

“The Canadian Celiac Association [CCA] has recently investigated a variety of blue cheese on the market and found that very few are made using bread mold, and when they are, the test results completed by Health Canada found no detectable levels of gluten in the final product. The new CCA Acceptability of Food and Food Ingredients for the gluten-free Diet pocket dictionary lists blue cheese as allowed on a gluten-free diet.”

Many people who were diagnosed with celiac or gluten intolerance years ago might not realize they can safely enjoy bleu cheese – assuming they like it. Obviously, at some point most people get comfortable with the diet and don’t feel the need to continue researching what is and is not gluten-free. The only problem with this is that twenty years ago, people were told they could not drink alcohols made from gluten grains or have distilled vinegar. They were also told they could eat spelt – which happens to be a gluten containing grain that is off limits to people who can’t tolerate gluten.

That is why there are so many untrue things floating around on the internet about our diet. This creates conflict in our community which does nothing to help our cause of increasing awareness about our condition among the general public. It’s really not that much of a mystery why we have not been able to do more to educate mainstream society more about gluten intolerance. We can’t even agree on what is and is not safe on the gluten-free diet because celiac myths are alive and well all over the internet. Bleu cheese is considered safe for those on the gluten-free diet but it’s best to read the label to make sure ‘wheat’ is not listed as an ingredient (neither rye nor barley are used in making bleu cheese). No one has to eat bleu cheese if they don’t want to, but them not doing so doesn’t change its safety for those that love it and want to enjoy it as they always have. Bleu cheese dressings are a different animal and some contain gluten. So again, read the label.

There is a way you can find gluten in cheese. It’s rare, but some cheap shredded (usually imitation) cheeses can contain wheat. It’s used as a declumping agent. Last year the Food and Beverage Manager at Zoo Atlanta stated that the cheese in their salads contained gluten. So cheese with gluten exists but it’s not that common and there don’t seem to be any unshredded cheeses that contain gluten. As always, read the label.

Some cheese spreads may contain gluten. Again, read the label. At last check Kraft cheese in a can was gluten-free. There does not seem to be  much real food in the product, but since it was gluten-free in the past, it likely still is. Kraft will note all forms of gluten on their product label so no gluten is hidden under another ingredient name. Cabot Creamery in Vermont has verified that all of their cheeses gluten-free.

References: Canadian Celiac Association, Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

Are White Vinegar and Soy Sauce Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Once the subject of debate in the gluten-free community, it has now been proven that distilled vinegar is absolutely gluten-free. That includes white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and champagne vinegar – ALL distilled vinegar is safe for those on a gluten-free diet. However, malt vinegar, which is generally made from gluten grain barley, is not distilled and therefore it is not gluten-free.

Recently at a gluten-free function, I met someone who told me that no vinegar was gluten-free except for apple cider vinegar. The person read that on the internet, of course. As we all know, the internet can offer a wealth of information on any given subject. But there are no internet police out there making sure that misinformation is not being spread around cyberspace. That is why you can’t believe everything you read online. Even though I know I do my homework when it comes to gluten-free ingredients and wants to help others learn the intricacies of this diet, I still suggest everyone buy Shelley Case’s book, just so they can benefit from the wealth of information in it. Personally, I think Shelley’s book should be required reading for anyone on a gluten-free diet for health reasons.

It makes no sense to me whatsoever why people choose to believe others who don’t seem to do their own research about something as important as their medically prescribed diet. Instead, they trust misinformation, and worse – they spread that bad information to other unsuspecting people. It’s a vicious cycle and it seems never-ending.

Regarding soy sauce, the majority of brands are made with wheat. There is gluten in the finished product so it is not considered safe for those on a gluten-free diet for health reasons. It is not uncommon to find a well-meaning owner of a health food store reporting that wheat-based soy sauces are gluten-free. In fact, they are not considered so by people who have investigated this issue.

Luckily, there are several brands of gluten-free soy sauce including LaChoy, which is not marked gluten-free.  LaChoy is a ConAgra product so it is not marked gluten-free as they are behind the times on the gluten-free issue. San-J makes two gluten and wheat-free Tamari brand soy sauces. Keep in mind they also make several wheat-based soy sauces so you must read the label – the wheat-free products they offer are gluten-free.

The WalMart brand of soy sauce ‘Great Value’ was at one time labeled gluten-free so it likely still is. Please read the label before purchasing that or any other brand of soy sauce. Minimus.biz sells individual packets of Kari-Out soy sauce which is gluten-free. Many people like to take those packets to Sushi places. Most restaurants use Kikkoman soy sauce which contains gluten and is therefore unsafe for those on a gluten-free diet.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

Is Vanilla Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Both vanilla extract and natural vanilla flavor are safe for those on a gluten-free diet. Even though to make each product, vanilla beans are soaked in water and alcohol, it is considered gluten-free. However, this was not known until just a few short years ago. That is why you’ll often see in gluten-free cookbooks and on gluten-free recipe sites, the term vanilla with “gluten-free” before or after it. The truth is that no vanilla – extracts or otherwise – contain gluten. Imitation and artificial vanilla extract are also gluten-free, though neither is nearly as good as the real thing.

McCormick recently began labeling their pure vanilla extract gluten-free, even though it always was gluten-free. There is no gluten-free product list on the company’s website which is annoying since they have started labeling at least the vanilla extract gluten-free. McCormick, like so many other companies, realized that some people will choose an item that is marked gluten-free over others that are not, when given the opportunity. However, there are less expensive vanilla extracts than the McCormick brand.

In Shelley Case’s book “Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide”, vanilla, vanilla extract, vanilla flavoring, and vanillin are all listed in the gluten-free additive and ingredients list. It’s again confusing for someone new to the diet who might pick up a gluten-free cookbook at the library where every reference to vanilla calls for a gluten-free version. That would indicate there might be a gluten-containing version of vanilla out there somewhere.

While it’s frustrating that for so long, very little was known about what was and was not gluten-free – at least in terms of many processed foods – the safest thing to do is rely on factual information from nutrition experts like Shelley Case. She has devoted much of her dietitian career to helping those in our community safely follow the gluten-free diet. Vanilla is gluten-free so buy whatever brand of it you want to. It matters not if  ‘gluten-free’ is stamped on the box or not.

References:

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)