There are many food items on the market that contain wheat or wheat gluten, but you'd never guess it from looking at them. Of course, the first step to finding hidden wheat or gluten is reading the labels, and when reading the labels, you have to know what you're looking for. There are a lot of ingredients that contain wheat or gluten that you might never suspect.
Here is a list of some ingredients that must be avoided:
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HPP or HVP) - The problem here is that the plant source is not identified - it might be wheat. New laws require that the plant source must be identified.
Modified Food Starch - While there's no requirement for identifying the plant source, it does need to specified if wheat starch is used. However, even if there's no wheat starch, there may still be gluten from other sources.
Natural and/or Artificial Flavorings - Flavorings commonly used are barley, malt or rye derivatives, and sometimes hydrolyzed plant protein is used - all contain gluten.
Starches - Used as a thickener or binding agent. In the US, starch refers to corn. Other starches must be identified by plant type.
Dextrin - Another thickener, made from corn, tapioca, rice, potato or wheat. If made from wheat, it should be identified as such.
Spices - While individual spices don't contain gluten, spice mixtures may have wheat starch used as a binding agent. If so, it will be noted on the label.
These ingredients were once suspected of having gluten, but are now considered gluten free.
o Maltodextrin
o Glucose Syrup
o Carmel Coloring
o Citric Acid
o Distilled Vinegars (Malt Vinegars are NOT gluten free)
If you're looking for more information on buying gluten free food or need more information on gluten free eating, visit O2BGlutenFree.info.
