Gluten free nuts

[Clear2me]

All of a sudden I can't get any gluten-free nuts. There are only 2 nuts available that I can find on the market that are gluten-free. One is Mauna loa brand macadamia nuts, the other is Wonderful pistachios. Other than that all types of nuts that are plain nuts, roasted or raw are no longer gluten-free and are processed and plants that also process wheat.  Has anyone found a source for Pecans, almonds peanuts, walnuts, Pine nuts, etc that is gluten-free?

[RMJ]

I think Tierra Farms is a gluten free facility, at least that is what it says on the bag of walnuts that I have.

[Clear2me]

Thank you, a little expensive but glad to have this source. 

[Scott Adams]

They are a sponsor here, and I did noticed a free shipping coupon: GFships

[Aretaeus Cappadocia]

Azure Standard (https://www.azurestandard.com/) is one of my gluten-free vendors. I've purchased nuts, "grains", flours, and many other products there.

If you are not familiar with Azure, you have to set up an account (no cost) and get your purchases either via shipping (expensive) or "drop" (free if you buy a reasonable minimum). Search their website for a drop location in your area. Each drop location has a local volunteer(?) coordinator who coordinates with the local customers. I go to a drop 4-5 miles from my home that delivers every 2 weeks. We seem to range from 8-18 customers at a given delivery. The downside of the drop is that you have to be there when they say. They give you a few days notice of the precise time, though, and they are punctual.

Their pricing relative to other vendors for various products ranges from best price to overpriced, so you have to shop and compare.

Quality is mostly good but once in a while you get a dud - however they've been very responsive to giving me a credit on the few occasions when I've complained.

In my opinion, they are not as transparent about gluten as they could be. Some products are labeled "gluten free" and so far I trust that. Many products are labeled "Azure Market products are re-packaged by Azure for your convenience in a facility that meets Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) standards, including an approved allergen control program." I've corresponded with them over this and they all but say this means gluten free. I've come to trust this, with a little nervousness, but I wish they would be more explicit. They also sell a lot of gluten-containing products. Frankly, I think they are overlooking a business opportunity to become a trusted source for the gluten-free community by not being more clear about gluten.

Among Azure products I've purchased are "Walnuts, Baker's Pieces, Raw", "Cashews, Raw, Large White Pieces, Organic" and "Missouri Northern Pecan Grower Pecans Fancy Native, Raw, Halves". The walnuts and cashews were very good and the pecans were fabulous.

For almonds, I've been buying Blue Diamond unsalted when they go on sale (mostly from Safeway). The salted ones are probably fine too but the flavored ones I avoid now that I am gluten-free.

I also buy products including nuts from CostCo (cashews, shelled pistachios). Their nuts usually contain a "made in a facility that processes wheat" statement, which is scary. I've contacted customer service about various Kirkland products and they will usually give you a response <<for a specific lot>> whether it really was made in a wheat facility (sometimes yes sometimes no). For the "Kirkland Signature Fancy Whole Cashews, Unsalted, 40 oz" and "Kirkland Signature Shelled Pistachios, Roasted & Salted, 1.5 lbs", I got a "safe" answer and I ate them. I got an "unsafe" answer once for "Kirkland Signature Fancy Whole Cashews with Sea Salt, 2.5 lbs" and "Kirkland Signature Dry Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Salted, 1.5 lbs" and I don't look at these anymore. Again, these answers were given for specific lots only. They will accept an unopened return for cash if you find out you don't want it.

Costco also sells "Kirkland Signature Super Extra-Large Peanuts, 2.5 lbs" that are labeled gluten free. My celiac kid eats them all the time.

I pretty much only eat food that I prepare myself from scratch. My celiac symptoms are not that overt, so I can't say for certain I could identify a glutening. However, my antibody levels dropped 25 fold (into normal range) since my dx earlier this year.

Hope this helps.

Edited November 19 by Aretaeus Cappadocia
forgot to add Peanuts.

[Clear2me]

Thank you for all the excellent information. I moved from Wyoming to California. May be its where I am located but So far none of the Costco Kirkland brand I have looked at is labeled gluten free. Same with the Sam's Members Mark. The Kirkland nuts you mention all say they are processed in a plant that processes wheat.  I am going to keep checking. Thank you. The Azure Market looks promising 😁

Take care

S

[Aretaeus Cappadocia]

I wanted to respond to your post as much for other people who read this later on (I'm not trying to contradict your experience or decisions)

> Kirkland Signature Super Extra-Large Peanuts, 2.5 lbs, are labeled "gluten free" in the Calif Costcos I've been in. If they are selling non-gluten-free in your store, I suggest talking to customer service to see if they can get you the gluten-free version (they are tasty)

> This past week I bought "Sliced Raw Almonds, Baking Nuts, 5 lbs Item 1495072 Best if used by Jun-10-26 W-261-6-L1A 12:47" at Costco. The package has the standard warning that it was made on machinery that <may> have processed wheat. Based on that alone, I would not eat these. However, I contacted customer service and asked them "are Costco's Sliced Almonds gluten free?" Within a day I got this response: 

"This is [xyz] with the Costco Member Service Resolutions Team. I am happy to let you know we got a reply back from our Kirkland Signature team. Here is their response:  This item does not have a risk of cross contamination with gluten, barley or rye."

Based on this, I will eat them. Based on experience, I believe they will be fine. Sometimes, for other products, the answer has been "they really do have cross-contamination risk" (eg, Kirkland Signature Dry Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Salted, 1.5 lbs Item 1195303). When they give me that answer I return them for cash.

You might reasonably ask, "Why would Costco use that label if they actually are safe?" I can't speak for Costco but I've worked in Corporate America and I've seen this kind of thing first hand and up close.

(1) This kind of regulatory label represents risk/cost to the company. What if they are mistaken? In one direction, the cost is loss of maybe 1% of sales (if celiacs don't buy when they would have). In the other direction, the risk is reputational damage and open-ended litigation (bad reviews and celiacs suing them). Expect them to play it safe.

(2) There is a team tasked with getting each product out to market quickly and cheaply, and there is also a committee tasked with reviewing the packaging before it is released. If the team chooses the simplest, safest, pre-approved label, this becomes a quick check box. On the other hand, if they choose something else, it has to be carefully scrutinized through a long process. It's more efficient for the team to say there <could> be risk.

(3) There is probably some plug and play in production. Some lots of the very same product could be made in a safe facility while others are made in an unsafe facility. Uniform packaging (saying there is risk) for all packages regardless of gluten risk is easier, cheaper, and safer (for Costco).

Everything I wrote here is about my Costco experience, but the principles will be true at other vendors, particularly if they have extensive quality control infrastructure.

The first hurdle of gluten-free diet is to remove/replace all the labeled gluten ingredients. The second, more difficult hurdle is to remove/replace all the hidden gluten. Each of us have to assess gray zones and make judgement calls knowing there is a penalty for being wrong. One penalty would be getting glutened but the other penalty could be eating an unnecessarily boring or malnourishing diet.

[Clear2me]

Thanks for the info. I recently moved to CA from Wyoming and in that western region the Costco and Sam's /Walmart Brands have many nuts and more products that are labeled gluten free. I was told it's because those products are packaged and processed  in different  plants. Some plants can be labeled  gluten free because the plant does not also package gluten products and they know that for example the trucks, containers equipment are not used to handle wheat, barely or Rye. The Walmart butter in the western region says gluten free but not here. Most of The Kirkland and Members Mark brands in CA say they are from Vietnam. That's not the case in Wyoming and Colorado. I've spoken to customer service at the stores here in California. They were not helpful. I check labels every time I go to the store. The stores where I am are a Sh*tshow. The Magalopoly grocery chain Vons/Safeway/Albertsons, etc. are the same. Fishers and Planters brands no longer say gluten free. It could be regional. There are nuts with sugar coatings and fruit and nut mixes at the big chains that are labeled gluten free but I don't want the fruit or sugar.  It's so difficult I am considering moving again. I thought it would be easier to find safe food in a more populated area. It's actually worse. 

I was undiagnosed for most of my life but not because I didn't try to figure it out. So I have had all the complications possible. I don't have any spare organs left.  No a little gluten will hurt you. The autoimmune process continues to destroy your organs though you may not feel it. If you are getting a little all the time and as much as we try we probably all are and so the damage is happening. Now the FDA has pretty much abandoned celiacs. There are no requirements for labeling for common allergens on medications. All the generic drugs made outside the US are not regulated for common allergens and the FDA is taking the last gluten free porcine Thyroid med, NP Thyroid, off the market in 2026. I was being glutened by a generic levothyroxin. The insurance wouldn't pay for the gluten free brand any longer because the FDA took them all off their approved formulary. So now I am paying $147 out of pocket for NP Thyroid but shortly I will have no safe choice. Other people with allergies should be aware that these foreign generic pharmaceutical producers are using ground shellfish shell as pill coatings and anti-desicants. The FDA knows this but  now just waits for consumers to complain or die.

The take over of Wholefoods by Amazon destroyed a very reliable source of good high quality food for people with allergies and for people who wanted good reliably organic food. Bezos thought  he could make a fortune off people who were paying alot for organic and allergen free food by substituting cheap brands from Thailand. He didn't understand who the customers were who were willing to pay more for that food and why. I went from spending hundreds to nothing because Bezo removed every single trusted brand that I was buying. Now they are closing Whole foods stores across the country. In CA, Mill Valley store (closed July 2025) and the National Blvd. store in West Los Angeles (closed October 2025). The Cupertino store will close. 

In recent years I have learned to be careful and trust no one. I have been deleberately glutened in a restaurant that was my favorite (a new employee). The Chef owner was not in the kitchen that night.

I've had  a metal scouring pad cut up over my food.The chain offered gluten free dishes but it only takes one crazy who thinks you're a problem as a food fadist. Good thing I always look. Good thing they didn't do that to food going to a child with a busy mom.  I give big tips and apologize for having to ask in restaurants but mental illness seem to be rampant. I've learn the hard way.         

I don't buy any processed food that doesn't say gluten free. 

I am a life long Catholic. I worked for the Church while at college. I don't go to Church anymore because the men at the top decided Jesus is gluten. The special hosts are gluten less not gluten free. No I can't drink wine after people with gluten in their mouth and a variety of deadly germs. I have been abandoned and excluded by my Church/Family. 

Having nearly died several times, safe food is paramount. If your immune system collapses as mine did, you get sepsis. It can kill you very quickly. I spent 5 days unconscious and had to have my appendix and gall bladder removed because they were necrotic. I was 25. They didn't figure out I had celiac till I was 53. No one will take the time to tell you what can happen when your immune system gets overwhelmed from its constant fighting the gluten and just stops. It is miserable that our food is processed so carelessly. Our food in many aspects is not safe. And the merging of all the grocery chains has made it far worse. Its a disaster. Krogers also recently purchased Vitacost where I was getting the products I could no longer get at Whole Foods. Kroger is eliminating those products from Vitacost just a Bezos did from WF.

I am looking for reliable and certified sources for nuts. I have lived the worst consequences of the disease and being exposed unknowingly and maliciously. Once I was diagnosed I learned way more than anyone should have to about the food industry.  I don't do gray areas. And now I dont eat out except very rarely. 

I have not eaten fast food for 30 years before the celiac diagnosis. Gluten aside..... It's not food and it's not safe. 

No one has got our backs. Sharing safe food sources is one thing we can do to try to be safe.