Learn how to decode gluten-free labels effectively, ensuring safe food choices for those with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease.
Understanding Gluten-Free Certifications and Their Importance for Health
When navigating the grocery store, it’s common to encounter products boasting labels like “gluten-free” that can still leave consumers feeling uncertain. Understanding the nuances behind these labels is essential for making informed choices. For instance, a product may carry a gluten-free label, but a note indicating it was “processed in a facility with wheat” can raise concerns about cross-contamination. Additionally, terms like “malt extract” can be confusing, leading shoppers to question whether an ingredient might contain gluten.
It’s important to learn how to confidently read gluten-free labels to alleviate stress while grocery shopping. By being aware of potential pitfalls and understanding ingredient lists, individuals can make better decisions and enjoy their meals without the anxiety of unintended gluten exposure. This knowledge empowers consumers, allowing them to focus on preparing and enjoying their meals rather than worrying about the safety of their food choices.
Unlocking the Secrets: Navigating the Gluten-Free Label Labyrinth
Quick reminder before we get started on this episode. This podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn’t medical advice. You know that moment you pick up a product that looks safe. It says gluten-free in bold letters, but something still makes you hesitate. Can you trust the label? What about that process in a facility with wheat note?.
What the heck is malt extract anyway? If you’ve ever stood in a grocery aisle googling ingredients, this episode is for you. Today, I’m breaking down how to read gluten-free labels with confidence so you can spend less time stressing and more time actually enjoying your food. Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer podcast. I’m your host, Krie Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything. But I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle. Breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks, and everything in between to rebuild a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun, and prove that you don’t have to miss out on anything. Welcome back to the episode. So today we’re talking about reading a gluten-free labels and reading labels in.
General. And first off, we want to talk about what actually gluten-free means and what it doesn’t. So in the United States, gluten-free means that it contains less than 20 parts per million of gluten. And it cannot contain wheat, barley, rye, or crossbread hybrids of those grains. But it doesn’t require certification or dedicated facilities.
So, that means just a simple gluten-free label could mean it could contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten potentially, but it’s not um guaranteed to be above or below. It’s supposed to be at the 20 or less, but if it doesn’t say, you know, certified gluten-free, it doesn’t mean that it’s completely for sure safe. So, certified gluten-free.
Means truly gluten-free. It means it’s certified by third-party testing and it’s stricter than FDA standards here in the United States. So, some logos to look for is GFCO and CSA. Many times you’ll see this um traditional gluten-free certified logo. It kind of looks like a swirly G um with a um kind of like an oval around it because then.
It says gluten-free to the side. So that’s the logo you want to look for. If you’re celiac or highly sensitive to uh cross contact of gluten. If you’re gluten intolerant or avoiding gluten, then simply it’s stating gluten-free should be good enough for you. Again, unless you are like super sensitive to cross contact. So if you’re celiac, I.
Highly recommend you always look for the certified gluten-free labels on processed foods. It’s just safer. You’re going to feel better if you’re making sure that it is guaranteed less than 20 parts per million of gluten. Some people are actually even sensitive to smaller amounts than 20 parts per million. So, you need to know your body and work with.
Your doctor there as well. And so you might want to avoid uh processed foods if you are one that’s you know highly sensitive and sensitive to like 10 or five parts per million which is generally pretty rare but it’s you know work with your doctor on that to see if that’s what you want. So the bottom line here is gluten-free does not guarantee.
It’s safe for everybody especially those with cross contact sensitivities like celiac disease people and those super sensitive. So, if you’re super sensitive or have celiac disease, look for that certified gluten-free label if it’s not an item that’s normally gluten-free, like, you know, just apples or um fruits or vegetables. So, there’s some phrases.
And red flags we want to watch out for. So, anytime you see made in a facility with wheat, that has a high cross contact risk and is not advised for celiac disease or those who are sensitive to cross contact. We also want to avoid made on a shared equipment with wheat if you’re celiac or highly sensitive to cross contact. That’s a bit.
More risk than in the facility type because that means that wheat is actually on those lines at some point in time and it’s made on shared equipment and the may contain traces of wheat can be added voluntarily but it’s important to consider. So that means that it could be one of the above. Uh it could be that they don’t thoroughly clean their lines.
In between. So maybe they don’t share the same maybe they share the same equipment but they do a thoroughly job thorough job of cleaning it but they’re still are you know kind of like covering their butt and saying it might contain traces of wheat. So that’s also not advised if you’re see or highly sensitive. And then obviously if it says.
Contains wheat, barley or rye is definitely a hard no. So, when you’re in doubt, it’s a great idea to contact the company if it’s something that you really want to try or check for trusted gluten-free communities online around you to see if what others have experience with the product. So, another tricky thing, and I I get a lot of.
Questions about this from people who are celiac gluten-free or those who are trying to buy products for those people who need gluten-free because they’re so confused on what what actually contains gluten because labels don’t necessarily say gluten. And you need to watch out for words like malt, which is usually made from barley, malt vinegar, too,.
Malt extract, malt flavoring. Anytime it says anything maltreated, that’s almost 99% a hard no and it comes from barley. We also want to look out for modified food starch. Now, in the United States, that is safe unless wheat is actually listed on that product. So, modified food starch in general in the United States should be safe. I’m not sure the.
Regulations in other countries, but I’d love to hear your feedback if you have information on that. And then also wheat starch. This can be specially processed to be gluten-free, but only if it’s labeled as such. So, they can remove all the gluten in wheat starch potentially if if that’s what they’re trying to do and that’s what they test for. But.
That’s it’s just a really big caution not to eat anything that says wheat starched. Also, hydrayzeed wheat protein, that is definitely a no. Um, soy sauces, unless it says gluten-free, like it’s tamari, then that is definitely a lot safer. And many times there are some really good tamari brands out there that are soy sauce that have.
No wheat in it that are very tasty and a great substitute if you’re not sensitive to soy. And then we also want to look for flavored chips, soups, gravies, and broths. Those are very common to have either mulch in it, so a barley type um that might have flour in it to thicken it, especially the soups and the gravies. Broth can also have gluten in.
It sometimes. Um, I know that I find that I cannot eat conventional chicken that has broth injected into it because sometimes that has gluten in it. So, I avoid any chicken that has broth added to it. So, it’s something to look out for. And actually, interesting side note is um sometimes you’ll find a turkey that has a gravy packet inside the.
Turkey. And that is a definite no. I can tell you that from experience as a celiac. We thought it was going to be okay. It was in a sealed packet, but our whole family got sick. Um, whenever we had that turkey that had um even though my husband took out the packet of gravy um and tried to thoroughly rinse everything, nope, it was not good.
Enough. So, make sure you’re really careful when it comes to gravy obviously. And even if it’s in a sealed packet like it was in that turkey. And then I personally read labels by doing the following. I first I check for a certified gluten-free logo. If it’s got that on there, then I feel comfortable and I feel safe. I have yet to been.
Cross-contaminated or gotten sick from something that says certified gluten-free because they test routinely test their lines and they also routinely um check the ingredients and things like that. I also scan for an allergen warning. So, if it says contains wheat, then I know it’s a definite no. And then next, I will read the ingredients list.
If I don’t see the certified gluten-free logo and I don’t see the warning for it contains wheat, then I start reading the ingredients list to look for those hidden sources like we talked about above um with the malt and the barley and malt extract and all those things. And then I look for the risk statements, you know, shared in a shared facility or.
Equipment with wheat. I look for those. And if it says that as a celiac, I definitely say no to that. And if I’m unsure, I just skip it. You can definitely look it up and call the company if you would like, but most of the time I don’t have time for that. So, I just skipped the product, unfortunately. So, I’ve trained myself.
To do this in less than 30 seconds and and probably even less than that. Probably more like 10 or 15. I’m really good at picking out those words. Now, once you get the hang of it and once you get practice at it, you’re going to find those words pretty quickly. And so, what we want to do is we want to start with our brands that you trust and build from.
There. So, here’s some, you know, tips that we want to work on as you’re, you know, if you’re not too far in this gluten-free journey, or if you are, but you want to explore some other items, we want to start with the brands you trust and build from there. There are many brands out there that have only gluten-free products. And so, Ciiet.
Would be a brand that I can think of that is like that. And all their products are safe and all their products are delicious. I’ve not had one product from them that isn’t delicious. So start with brands that you trust and go from there. And then have a safe product list in your phone for grocery runs. If you need a little cheat sheet, have that.
Safe product list in your phone. Um ask companies questions. You can email them or call them. I know I’ve done this um especially for supplements that I wanted to try. I say I wanted, you know, so a protein powder or a vitamin supplement and I wanted to, you know, have that product because I needed that nutrient item that whether it’s protein or a.
Vitamin, but I wanted to make sure that it was gluten-free. So, I have definitely um called or emailed companies to make sure that it’s gluten-free and safe for me. You can also glue join gluten-free groups or crowdsource the information. We have an excellent gluten-free group, the gluten-free engineer on Facebook. You.
Can just search that and find us. And then you can also print or save a gluten-free ingredient cheat sheet. And this is something we’re actually going to have on our website. Check our show notes for this and you can get a gluten-free cheat sheet that you can use um when you’re out shopping to make your life a lot easier. So, let’s recap a.
Little bit here. So, gluten-free doesn’t always mean safe. Context definitely matters. We want to make sure it’s not processed in a facility that’s processed with wheat. If you’re super sensitive or celiac, we want to make sure definitely it’s not on a shared facility, shared lines if you’re celiac or super sensitive. And the more you do this, the.
Easier it’s going to get. So practice equals peace of mind and listen to your body every time you try a new food. Um I would actually go so far as to recommend, you know, don’t try more than one new gluten-free processed food um at a time. That way you know if it’s bothering you or not and trust your gut literally and figuratively. There have.
Been times that I, you know, had a gut check. Do I really want to eat this item mentally gut a mental to gut check there? And I was right to reread the label. So you seriously could use your gut um whether it’s a literal or a figurative one and that’s going to help you keep safe. So hopefully these tips will help you read labels much easier,.
Much faster. Make sure you grab that gluten-free um guide that we have, the downloadable PDF that’s on our website as well as in the show notes. We’re going to link to it in the show notes. And if this episode helped you feel more confident in the grocery store, be sure to subscribe to our podcast or share it with someone that you know is also.
Living a gluten-free lifestyle. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Gluten-Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources, and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to the.
Gluten-free.com. It’s your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun, and full of flavor. And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. And we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is forformational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living.
With celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice. Always consult with a qualified health care professional for medical questions, concerns, or advice specific to your health. This episode is brought to you by Find Me Gluten-Free, your go-to app for discovering safe gluten-free dining.
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