Discover if salt contains gluten with insights from a Celiac dietitian. Learn how to safely navigate gluten-free eating with expert advice.
Understanding Gluten-Free Salt: Expert Insights for Celiac Patients
As a celiac dietitian with over 10 years of experience, Tayler discusses the risks of gluten hidden in salt in the USA. She points out that gluten is not labeled as an allergen in the US, which can be confusing for those with celiac disease. Tayler also highlights the difference between a wheat allergy and celiac disease, shedding light on the importance of understanding food labels and ingredients.
She gives an example of holiday-shaped Reese’s containing gluten, emphasizing the need for celiacs to be cautious about hidden sources of gluten. Tayler concludes that while gluten in salt is rare, those who are particularly sensitive should pay attention to cross-contamination risks. Her insights provide valuable information for those navigating a gluten-free diet in the US.
Decoding the Mystery: Gluten-Free Salt Explained by a Celiac Dietitian
Hello it’s Taylor silver duuk registered dietician specializing in Celiac and I’ve had Celiac for over 10 years and today I want to talk about salt gluten and celiac disease because I I think it was on a post where I was talking about beans canned beans but one of the posts that I made on YouTube got this comment I’ll uh enlarge it so you can see it here it says be careful while mentioning salt as gluten-free yes this is naturally gluten-free however for the mass shipping that now happens some of the salt companies are labeling up containers may contain gluten pepper corns as well usually salt is moved around the world using grain vessels and not cleaned out between use so I got this comment on one of my videos and um I want to dissect it because this is a really great example of a lot of the confusing and conflicting information you might see online a lot.
Of the potentially well-intentioned information but also fearmongering and misinformation and how these things can start to get really confusing really quickly um and can also be a great example of how to spot potential misinformation so again if you’re new here my name is Taylor again I’m a registered dietician specializing in Celiac disease in the United States this is where I live this is where I’m credentialed as a dietitian and this is where I base all of my um recommendations off of I base it off of what we know and do in the United States what our labeling like laws are what our processing and Manufacturing laws are Etc so let’s talk about I’ll make this a little bit bigger again salt cross contact with salt and if we need to worry about if we see salt on a food label so first I want to highlight a couple of things that stand out to me in this.
Comment first is that they say that a lot of salt companies are labeling containers as may contain gluten now I don’t know where this person is but I’m in the United States this does not happen in the United States gluten is not an allergen that is identified in the allergen advisory statement or the allergen statement those are two different things by the way and also the may contain statement in the United States this is a allergen advisory statement this is voluntary whereas the contained statement in the United States is mandatory that is where they have to identify the top eight allergens but gluten is not one of those allergens this is not happening in the USA they are not saying things contain gluten or may contain gluten the only gluten ingredient that would be here in this part of a a label would be wheat now I know that that’s super.
Nitpicky but that’s really important to pick up on because they’re saying that things are saying may contain gluten but that’s not happening and this is a a point of like very careful misinformation like they did not clearly communicate and this is already something that I’m already deeply questioning and deeply already don’t agree with because I know it’s not true but is something to pick up on that’s not happening um even even with salt and the may contain gluten statement so if um um may contain wheat statement even if they are identifying the top eight allergen in the allergen advisory may contain statement um I’ve never picked up a a salt container that is pure salt and seen may contain wheat I’ve not seen that yet um I would imagine that if this was happening this would be a more widespread issue and the wheat allergy Community would be freaking out because.
Salt is in quite literally everything and I’m not sure if there would be anything left for the wheat allergy Community to eat if there was if this was truly a concern um and to remind everyone I know a lot of us are on the same page but a wheat allergy is different from celiac disease a wheat allergy is IG Med mediated it is also something where there is not a widely accepted um amount of wheat that a wheat allergy can a person with a wheat allergy can tolerate whereas with celiac disease it is uh mediated by different part of the immune system usually IG mediated mediated and there is a widely General accepted um rule that most celiacs can tolerate uh less than 20 parts per million of gluten so that’s a big difference and this this would be I I imagine a big uproar in the wheat allergy Community simply because like any amount of wheat is considered too much for someone with.
A wheat allergy in most cases so this is like no not a thing but they then also say usually salt is moved around the world using grain vessels and not cleaned out between use and this is another thing when misinformation is being spread around celiac disease I see this kind of thing happen a lot too where they try to add like a fact or a piece of information that is difficult to prove or disprove as a way to support their claim and in this case I don’t think that this was like their intention was to harm anyone I don’t think their intention was to fear Monger but this is inciting fear for no reason and they’re they’re trying to support their claim with something that is difficult to prove or disprove and in this case like I saw this happen with um holiday shaped Reese’s when I was doing a big investigation into if the holiday shaped Reese’s were in.
Fact gluten-free or not one of the things that I saw and came across countless times on forums and Facebook groups and social media and even Google was this idea that the reesei holiday shapes were made in molds that were dusted with flour and that’s why they weren’t gluten-free or that was one of the reasons they were said not to be gluten-free for people with Celiac and this was something that was really difficult to kind of prove or disprove and I ended up having to call the Hershey Company and explain to them like this is what I’m seeing online this is what I’ve heard I can’t find anywhere that this is real and like based on my understanding of the labeling laws in the United States this is not something that could happen but is this happening and they were like we’ve never done this we’ve NE we don’t even know where this would have come from no this.
Isn’t an issue but that like little statement where people could say also plus you know the moles are dusted with flow like that can that’s difficult to disprove and it’s like a little fact people will sprinkle in with no actual like it’s it’s unstan there’s unsubstantiated there’s nothing there to actually hold that fact up it’s like completely false um so in this case usually salt is moved around the world using grain vessels and not cleaned out between use if you look up how salt is transported globally this is just not true it’s not true it might be happening in like smaller countries I’m not sure but in the United States this is like not a thing like they’re not putting wheat into a barrel and then putting salt in that bar Barrel after they take the wheat out that’s not what’s happening um I’m so sorry I didn’t mute my phone but um this is just not.
Happening so are we worried about salt as people with celiac disease no if you see salt on an ingredient label you’re fine you’re not worried about the salt there are many other things we are worried about for sure um there are a lot of other ingredients that can that can carry a risk um salt is absolutely not one of them and I think it’s really important that we are careful about the information that we spread um especially if we like especially if it’s unfounded um especially if it’s like kind of just based on Word of Mouth and uh I almost want to say myth um because it’s it’s just this is like this is not true it’s not true um I will say if you are someone with Celiac who feels like if you see something like this you are sent into a panic or you were never taught how to read a food label um you were told just to go gluten-free and or you kind of feel like.
Really scared about grocery shopping because you’re never really sure if you’re making a safe decision and or you feel like the only products you can buy that have a label are the ones that explicitly say gluten-free and you are looking to have a stronger understanding of what is and isn’t safe when you’re grocery shopping in the United States and you want to know what the different parts of the food label mean where the risks are on a food label and what to look for I teach you exactly all of that for free in my totally free label reading class um this class I teach you basic it’s a lot it is a lot um but I teach you how to assess the safety of a food label in four simple steps so that you’re able to quickly make safe judgments but you’re also not stuck only buying things that are marked gluten-free so if this is something you’re interested in I’m.
A registered dietitian I’m specializing in Celiac but I’ve also been living with Celiac for over 10 years and I explain it all simply using research and I give you a lot of resource ources to make it a quick and easy process for you plus I do provide some simulations in that class so that you’re able to practice with me as well so if it’s something you’re interested in again it’s totally free it’s linked down below um but we are not we are not worried about salt we are not worried about salt we are not worried about salt if it says salt we’re not worried about it salt is safe okay that’s all that I have for today if you found this helpful go ahead and hit the Subscribe button for more videos from a Celiac and Celiac dietitian and I will see you when I see you
