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"I have just started my gluten-free diet. What food additives (gluten based) do I have to avoid?" This question has a long a complex answer about food additives that do or MIGHT contain gluten.
The 1400 Range of food additives are the THICKENERS The problem is that these additives are made from starch and MAY contain gluten. I will explain things to look out for. Thickeners are additives used in food manufacturing that thicken and give a smooth uniform texture to your food. For instance, thickeners are often added to sauces, mayonnaises, pie fillings, dairy desserts, custards, yoghurts, soups .. lots and lots of processed foods contain these thickeners. Additive numbers 1400-1450 are called thickeners. They are made from STARCH. Therefore, they may be made from wheat starch. If they are wheat-based, then they will contain very small levels of gluten - so under such circumstances these thickeners are NOT gluten-free. BUT … and here is the confusion … if these thickeners are derived from other starches such as maize, potato, tapioca or rice, then they are gluten-free. So sometimes these thickeners are gluten free. This means that you do have to read the food label carefully. Food labelling laws now require wheat-derived thickeners to be declared in the ingredients listing. ANOTHER confusion is that thickeners are sometimes called “modified starch” or “dextrins”. The most important advice is this:
If the source of the thickener comes from wheat (or another gluten-containing grain), then it should be avoided on the gluten-free diet. The final confusion is this - all thickeners with numbers outside the 1400-1450 range are gluten-free. These new thickeners also include 181 (tannin), 400-418, (vegetable gums), 440 (pectin), 461-466 (celluloses). These are gluten-free! I hope that this helps – you might need to read this through a few times! |
