Unsafe items – Hidden gluten : Gluten present as the source of one of the ingredients

Some products, though not ostensibly made out of wheat, barley, rye or oats, may still contain a food additive, ingredient or processing aid which is derived from one of these grains. These products may hence be unsafe though they don’t seem so.

Some such commonly used products which may have gluten ‘hidden’ in them are listed below. Please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list.

• Commercially available flour made out of gluten free grains
• Commercially available spice powder especially heeng
• Breakfast cereal like cornflakes, rice krispies and others
• Commercially available idli, dosa batter
• Toffees and candy, cough drops-lozenges, some chocolates
• Frozen potato products and other frozen products
• Vinegars – Malt vinegar unsafe, distilled vinegar normally considered safe
• Sauces, gravies, marinades – especially soy sauce
• Packaged juices, squash and cordials
• Flavoured – tea, coffee, milk, yogurt, salt
• Dry roasted nuts
• Food colour, caramel colour and artificial colour
• Flavouring, particularly smoke flavouring
• Commercially available mithai
• Packaged soups
• Icing sugar
• Ice cream
• Citric Acid
• Processed meat, imitation meat
• Baking powder
• Seasonings
• Clarifying agents used in wine
• Packaged soups
• Non – dairy creamer
• Salad dressing
• Brewer’s yeast
• Croutons
• Gravy cubes, stock cubes
• Puddings
• Brown rice syrup
• MSG
• Some food additives in packaged food products and some ingredients in restaurants
• Some medications
• Mustard powder
• Some cosmetics, toothpaste and art supplies (Please note that though some of them may contain gluten, they may not be harmful unless ingested. Please read more in FAQs)

Whether or not the above mentioned products will have gluten present in them will depend upon the manufacturer and the regulations and practices of the country where these products are manufactured. For example, a product may contain starch derived from corn in a particular country, making that product safe there. But the same product manufactured in another country (or by another company) may use starch derived from wheat, rendering it unsafe in that country.

One needs to read the labels and check with the manufacturer before using these items or any packaged product. You could use our sample letter to write to them.