Foods which can contain Gluten

It is important to note that not all items on the following list contain gluten 100% of the time, it all comes down to the quality of the product.  Ice cream for example, may be 100% natural or may be a cheaper version made with 50% chemicals and additives, of which many contain gluten.

Herbs and spices, seasonings, and even cheese use anti-caking agents which are often made with gluten.  The flavorings on everything from potato and corn chips to teas can contain gluten.

Liquid foods like soups, sauces and gravies use gluten in their thickeners.  Pharmaceutical medications, as well as many vitamins and supplements use gluten in their binders.

Gluten is also in emulsifiers and stabilizers.  This is why it is found in many beauty products and skin lotions.  Just because a product is not eaten, it still can be dangerous if it contains gluten and is used on the skin, or even inhaled.

There have been studies which tested women’s beauty products that contained gluten, versus ones that didn’t, on the skin of women who had known gluten sensitivities.  They proved that the gluten in beauty products could cause a reaction, which makes sense since anything applied to the skin can be absorbed.

Gluten-free labeling can be misleading.  While the FDA claims those with celiacs will not react when ingesting substances with 20ppm or less of gluten and can tolerate foods with small amount of gluten, they do not have any evidence as to the validity of that statement. 

The 2014 ruling from the FDA on Gluten-free labeling:

Since 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that claims on food labels that a food contains no gluten meet a clear standard that assures consumers that “gluten-free” claims on food products will be truthful and consistent. 

The rule specifies, among other criteria, that any foods that carry the label “gluten-free,” “no gluten,” “free of gluten,” or “without gluten” must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. This level is the lowest that can be reliably detected in foods using scientifically validated analytical methods. Other countries and international bodies use these same criteria, as most people with celiac disease can tolerate foods with very small amounts of gluten.