Hidden Gluten: 18 foods to triple check

This blog post is all about the places to find hidden gluten. The places you might not have thought to check and have caught us all out – like squash and coke!

Here’s what got me thinking about it… A while ago, I posted a pic on Instagram of some Pick N Mix, owning up to the fact I hadn’t thought about cross contamination & had enjoyed several big bags since my diagnosis…oops!! ?

After that, I received 100’s of messages from you guys with all the times you’d accidentally consumed gluten too. The same things came up A LOT so I thought it might be useful to share them so we can learn from each other 🙂

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HIDDEN GLUTEN

PLEASE NOTE: Not all brands of the following products will contain gluten, but some do & have glutened people so worth triple checking!

Sweets

• Strawberry laces
• White mice
• Liquorice – lots have wheat, including Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts
• Wine gums – some are fine, some are may contain so watch out!
• Smarties

Drinks

• Supermarket own Coke
• Fruit & Barley squash
• Some hot chocolates
• Some syrups
• Fruit tea – e.g. there’s a brand called “t plus” in Boots that’s a may contain gluten
• Toppings on cappuccinos in coffee shops – its rare, but even the chocolate sprinkles can contain gluten
• Costa – all of their dairy free milks are “may contain”

Mains and Savoury Ingredients

• Salt – weird i know but some Aldi/Lidl/B&M salt have may contain warnings
• Processed potatoes – chips etc can be coated in wheat flour
• Stock Cubes e.g. OXO cubes
• Spices/Seasoning Mixes eg. Colemans Stew Mix – gluten can be used as an anti-caking/thickening agent
• Morrison’s – lots of their products have a may contain label… even their stir fry veg and fresh prawns!!
• Mustard – mustard itself isn’t a problem, its just some brands add other products to their mustard etc Colemans jars add wheat
• Soy Sauce – you need tamari (soy/soy beans themselves aren’t a problem but soy sauce has wheat added)
• Unlabelled products in the cupboard- a couple of you have said you’ve accidentally eaten something put back in the fridge/freezer without the packaging, thinking it was gf and it wasn’t e.g. someone elses Bolognese at uni,
• Seafood sticks – m&s has gluten free ones but most contain gluten
• Brown sauce – HP isn’t gluten free (although lots of supermarket own brands are)
• Old El Paso Squeezy Chunky Guacamole 
• Yeast – some yeast products have wheat added. If they do, it will say so clearly on the ingredients list.

Desserts

• Cadbury’s – especially dairy milk. Different sizes have different allergy warnings! grr!! My guide here
• Crisps
• Some Chocolate
• Sprinkles – for cake decorating
• Ice Popps – *some* Mr Freeze products contain gluten so double check if your packet says “gluten free”

Also, the one that’s got me a few things is “things you don’t even order” when you’re out so you put less thought into it – biscuits in the hairdressers, someone giving you a sweet etc

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CROSS CONTAMINATION RISK

What is cross contamination? When food that contains gluten touches your gluten-free food, it could have left some crumbs on yours so you can’t eat it! Booooooo!!

• Pick N Mix – customers use the same scoop for all their sweets but not all of them will be gf
• Sharing a Toaster with gluten-containing bread (use toaster bags or a separate toaster)
• Sharing Butter & all condiments
• Buffets – some foods somehow jump from one bowl to another/ people could use the same spoon in multiple bowls etc
• Non-GF Oat milk – contaminates any drink made using the same frother unless its cleaned in between – can be a problem in Starbucks & lots of londonc off shops
• Chips – need to check if they’re fried in the same oil as anything containing gluten
• Top of cheesecake – lots of people said that shortly after diagnosis, they would do things like scrap the top off a normal cheesecake & just not eat the base. Sadly, it WILL be contaminated with crumbs from the base!!
• Freezers – if you leave unwrapped products in the freezer drawer and they’re touching gluten products/had gluten in there before

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WANT SOME ALTERNATIVES TO THESE PRODUCTS?

For example, what brands of brown sauce are gluten free? And are there any alternatives to Wotsits? Hopefully these guides will help:

• Savoury
• Sweet
• Crisps

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If you have any more to add to the list, please message me on insta or email me via my contact page!! Thank you!

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Hope it helps

Jess x