Gluten Free Living in Central Illinois : How to Read an Ingredient Label for Wheat

This is a great article about how to read food labels from the Kids with Food Allergies website. At the end of this article is a link to a couple of pages that contain hidden names of wheat that would be beneficial when shopping. Reading labels of food products and asking questions about how an item is cooked when eating out is a part your life if you have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and sometimes can be very frustrating. New food labeling laws have made it easier but it is still very hard to be confidant that the food you are consuming with not make you sick.

How to Read a Label for Wheat

Always read the entire ingredient label to look for the names of wheat. Wheat ingredients may be within the list of the ingredients. Or it could be listed in a “Contains: Wheat” statement beneath the list of ingredients. The federal Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) requires this. Learn more about the U.S. food allergen labeling law.

FALCPA requires that all packaged foods regulated by the FDA must list "wheat" clearly on the ingredient label if it contains wheat. Advisory statements such as “may contain wheat” or “made in a facility with wheat” are voluntary. Advisory statements are not required by any federal labeling law. Discuss with your doctor if you may eat products with these labels or if you should avoid them.

Did you know that bulgur, malt, and seitan all contain wheat? Wheat may be an added ingredient in flours, baked goods and other products made with alternative grains, such as rice crackers. The FDA food allergen label law requires foods to state if they contain a top 8 allergen such as wheat. But, there are many foods and products that are not covered by the law, so it is still important to know how to read a label for wheat ingredients. Products exempt from plain English labeling rules: (1) Foods that are not regulated by the FDA. (2) Cosmetics and personal care items. (3) Prescription and over-the-counter medications. (4) Toys, crafts and pet food. Download and print our Wheat Allergy Avoidance List and Travel Cards to carry with you and share.

CONTAIN WHEAT

The following ingredients found on a label indicate the presence of wheat. All labels should be read carefully before consuming a product, even if it has been used safely in the past.

All purpose flour
Bread — any type made with white flour, wheat flour; bread crumbs
Bulgur
Cereal extract
Couscous
Cracker meal
Einkorn
Emmer - also known as farro
Farina
Flour — atta, club, common, durum, einkorn, emmer, farina, graham, kamut, maida, semolina, spelt, triticale, triticum
Flour — all purpose, bread, bromated, cake, enriched, high gluten, high protein, instant pastry, phosphated, plain, soft wheat, steel ground, stone, ground, self-rising, unbleached, white, whole wheat
Fu
Gluten — wheat gluten, vital gluten, vital wheat gluten, fu
Kamut ® — khorasan wheat
Malt, malt extract
Matzo — Matzo meal (also spelled as matzoh, matzah, or matza)
Noodles, pasta
Seitan
Semolina
Spelt
Tabbouleh
Triticale
Triticum
Wheat, whole wheat — wheat berries, wheat bran, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, wheat germ oil, wheat protein isolate, wheat starch, wheat sprouts, sprouted wheat
Wheatgrass

WHEAT IS SOMETIMES FOUND IN

Artificial flavoring, natural flavoring
Caramel color
Dextrin
Food starch*, gelatinized starch, modified starch, modified food starch, vegetable starch
Glucose syrup
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
Maltodextrin
Monosodium glutamate, MSG
Oats**
Soy sauce, shoyu, tamari, teriyaki sauce
Surimi
Textured vegetable protein
Vegetable gum

However, if the product is an FDA regulated food, the word "Wheat" must appear on the label.

*Unless otherwise stated on the food label, the single word “starch” in an ingredient list means corn starch. Starches from other sources should be designated by some non-misleading term that indicates the source of such starch, for example, “wheat starch.” See: Starches Common or Usual Names (FDA)

**Wheat-free and gluten-free oats can be found from special suppliers.

BOTANICAL NAMES OF WHEAT (SOMETIMES FOUND IN PERSONAL CARE ITEMS)

Club wheat (Triticum compactum Host.)
Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.)
Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum)
Emmer (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. dicoccon (Schrank) Thell.)
Kamut (Triticum polonicum L.)
Semolina (Triticum durum Desf.)
Spelt (Triticum spelta L.)
Triticale ( x Triticosecale ssp. Wittm.)
Triticum: Triticum aestivum L., Triticum durum Desf., Triticum compactum Host., Triticum spelta L., Triticum durum Desf., Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum, Triticum turgidum L. subsp.dicoccon (Schrank) Thell., Triticum polonicum L., and x Triticosecale spp. Wittm.