Ground meat absolutely full of gluten?

[GardeningForHealth]

Of course, meat is naturally gluten-free, and can only contain gluten if it's been cross-contaminated. In this publication, the authors found ground meat to contain more gluten than anything else tested. What is going on here? 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35267339/ - download the article, scroll down to Table 2 and look at Sample 1: ground raw meat.

Did the butchers fail to clean the stainless steel surfaces before processing the meat, after the bakers got done kneading the bread dough? I thought surfaces were cleaned between batches of food...or did the gluten remain despite a cleaning of the surfaces?

[Scott Adams]

Great question, as there have been studies to show that meat from grain-fed beef is gluten-free:

 I suspect that there must have been cross-contamination, and there could be many avenues for this, but it does make one wonder if it isn't better to grind your own beef?

[Doug1229]

Ground meats can contain flavorings and fillers. You must look for the gluten-free symbol on the packaging. I use Jennie-O brands which are marked gluten-free.

[glucel]

1 hour ago, Doug1229 said:

Ground meats can contain flavorings and fillers. You must look for the gluten-free symbol on the packaging. I use Jennie-O brands which are marked gluten-free.

Flavorings usually identified but don't know if there are laws that govern that. I bot lamb shanks that had rosemary flavor but did not see anything else that might be a grain so I ate it. I eat tons ground beef usually organic and grass fed from aldi. Not identified as gluten-free but hopefully it is. On the other hand I would only eat hot dogs which has several ingredients if identified gluten-free.

[knitty kitty]

@GardeningForHealth,

About that study...

The scientists were testing how well different gluten detection tests were at detecting gluten in different kinds of food products.  

The scientists knew the meat had gluten in it already.  They "spiked" the samples.

"...we selected a set of 32 samples (Table 2) to represent a wide range of grains and gluten concentrations and to encompass a wide range of food matrices. All the samples had previously tested at levels of between 5–1000 ppm gluten by the RIDASCREEN® Gliadin kit or the RIDASCREEN® FAST Gliadin kit, except for the raw meat sample which was previously tested to contain more than 1000 ppm gluten but was chosen to include a meat matrix. Samples were processed to provide a relatively uniform distribution of sample material prior to extraction. Raw meat was blended using a Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus® processor (Model DLC-2A)."

[Scott Adams]

6 hours ago, Doug1229 said:

Ground meats can contain flavorings and fillers. You must look for the gluten-free symbol on the packaging. I use Jennie-O brands which are marked gluten-free.

Many ground meats are not labelled gluten-free, but current US labeling laws do require the disclosure of wheat if it is used as an ingredient. Most ground meats are naturally gluten-free, and as you mention, it's best to find ones labeled gluten-free if possible. Many sausages, for example, are now labeled gluten-free.

[Wheatwacked]

"grass-fed" meat by definition cannot contain wheat as it means the animal is only fed grass 

organic meat can be fed wheat feed