Reading Food Labels

On a recent shopping exercise with one of my clients, I was reminded that reading food labels is one of the most important steps in learning to live gluten-free and/or allergen free. Reading food labels is second nature to me now BUT it was not always that way. 

My goal with this post is to make this as simple as possible. I have 2 references below for a more detailed explanation. 

This random label is a great example of what to look for when reading food labels. There are some correct things about this label and some blatant mistakes. Reminder, the * Top Allergens are (wheat, soybean, milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, fish and crustacean shellfish.)

1. The 1st thing I do when looking at labels is look under the main ingredient list for the word: "CONTAINS." This immediately alerts me to the food allergens in the ingredients. 
Note:WHEAT after the word "CONTAINS".
Stop...I do not have to go any further. WHEAT=GLUTEN

2. If there is no "CONTAINS" then I go back to the beginning of the           ingredient list. 

3. I look for words in BOLD. These are usually allergen alerts.
 Note: WHEAT on the first line.
 Stop... WHEAT=GLUTEN.

4. Let's pretend that neither the "CONTAINS"  or BOLD is there. Can you find any mistakes? 
 a) Line 7 & 8: palm oil, soybean oil, and/or 
                                 interesterified soybean oil
 SOY is a top 8 allergen and should have been either be BOLD or Under "CONTAINS"

 b) The last line for all us Gluten-Free people out there. 
                                malted barley flour, yeast
Though barley is most definitely gluten (wheat, barley and rye.)The FDA does not consider it a top 8 allergen therefore it doesn't need to be BOLD or under "CONTAINS." 

c) Barley is one of the most difficult ingredients to spot since it can fall under several names:
                      Barley Grass
                      Barley Hordeum Vulgare
                      Barley Malt 
                      Malt or Malt Flavoring
                      Malt Barley
                      Pearl Barley
                      Caramel Coloring ( Can be made with malt barley)

I have written in detail about the pitfalls of reading food labels for allergens and gluten-free foods on pages 22-24 in my book, Gluten-Free Living 101: A Step by Step Guide. 
The FDA has very specific details about allergen labeling on their website: this can be found at Guidance for Industry: A Food Labeling Guide (6. Ingredient Lists.)  For specific information about gluten-free food labeling go to the FDA website, Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods. The FDA has detailed explanations of how foods must be labeled. Below is an example of the label requirements from FDA site. 

"FALCPA requires food manufacturers to label food products that are made with an ingredient that is a major food allergen in one of the following two ways:"

To learn about gluten-free labeling for restaurants and bakeries, please go to my post written in January 2015, Gluten-Free Labeling in Restaurants and  Bakeries detailing the new FDA laws labeling laws in reference to gluten-free foods for restaurants and bakeries.