Natural Flavoring

[nme23]

How careful do I have to be with natural flavoring? I really don't have time to write each spice or flavoring company to ask them. This is just seeming to complicated and frustrating. New to all of this thanks.

[psawyer]

While "natural flavors" can contain gluten, they very rarely actually do. The most likely source would be barley malt, and that is a relatively expensive ingredient, so it is usually explicitly declared as "malt flavor."

 

If there were wheat in it, in the US (and Canada) it would be required by law to be disclosed as just that, "wheat."

 

Open Original Shared Link on flavorings:

It would be rare to find a "natural or artificial flavoring" containing gluten (a) because hydrolyzed wheat protein cannot be hidden under the term "flavor." and (b) barley malt extract is almost always declared as "barley malt extract" or "barley malt flavoring." For this reason, most experts do not restrict natural and artificial flavorings in the gluten-free diet.

 

Gluten-Free Diet - A Comprehensive Resource Guide, published 2008, page 46

 

Note: As of August, 2012, Canada requires ALL gluten sources to be explicitly disclosed.

So, for me, it is not a concern.