Eggs. Gluten Free Or Not?

[TimK]

Hello all,

I was just looking through all the posts here trying to find out if eggs are actually gluten free or not. I was under the impression that they were til today when I was at the grocery store. I found a brand of eggs labeled "Gluten Free". This made me wonder if regular eggs are not gluten free. Or if they are just jumping in to try and grab my money by making me think that they aren't.

So if all of you good people out there on Celiac.com could help with this answer it would be great. My friend cant believe that eggs would be able to have gluten in them but who knows.

[MELINE]

!!!!!!!!!!! No!!! eggs don't have gluten!!! How is that possible????? If eggs had gluten we should go and check water too....lol

[psawyer]

All eggs are gluten-free. You have stumbled onto the reason why, in Canada, it is illegal to label a food which is inherently gluten-free as being "gluten-free."

[RiceGuy]

Unless they are claiming that the chickens have been fed only gluten-free stuff, then it sounds like they're just trying to capitalize on the market. I've seen eggs from local organic farms with unidentifiable stuff clinging to the eggs, so in that case I'd like it if I knew the chickens hadn't been fed gluten, just in case of CC. AFAIK, eggs aren't supposed to have any gluten in them, though I am unaware of any specific studies to confirm either way.

I don't mind if a company labels eggs as being from free-range chickens or something though, even if most people don't notice any difference.

I seem to recall a thread which discussed mother's milk, and the possibility that there might be gluten in it, if the mother ate gluten. If I'm not mistaken, some study concluded that it was possible. If that's true, then I wouldn't think it out of the question for eggs to contain gluten. However, unless my recollection is confirmed, don't rely on it.

[MELINE]

If eggs had gluten all celiacs would be sick all the time! It is the food almost all celiacs eat! I eat 6 eggs / day....

[MaryJones2]

Tim, thanks for asking that question. I think your friend is right. They are trying to take your money. I would have to see several studies before I would even entertain that! With one very complicated exception, all commercial chicken feed has wheat as the primary grain and soy as the primary protein if they're vegetarian and animal by-products if they aren't. There is a lot of science behind feed ratios and there are certain foods that make yolks more yellow or taste a certain way so maybe that's it? My guess is they are trying to capitalize on the gluten-free thing.

[happygirl]

Eggs are gluten free. There are no rules at this point for what is "gluten free" - so you could see labels on 'naturally' gluten free items - like water, fresh fruits/veggies, fresh/plain meat/poultry, etc.

[Happy Holly]

Sounds to me like someone is trying to promote their product with a slightly dishonest twist. All eggs are gluten free -- not just the ones labeled as such. Wow!! People will find any way possible to promote things. Stay tuned.....it may be soon that bananas are labeled as gluten free too.

Enjoy your eggs -- whatever brand you want. They're all gluten free.

Hello all,

I was just looking through all the posts here trying to find out if eggs are actually gluten free or not. I was under the impression that they were til today when I was at the grocery store. I found a brand of eggs labeled "Gluten Free". This made me wonder if regular eggs are not gluten free. Or if they are just jumping in to try and grab my money by making me think that they aren't.

So if all of you good people out there on Celiac.com could help with this answer it would be great. My friend cant believe that eggs would be able to have gluten in them but who knows.

[tarnalberry]

Were they eggs, or egg beaters? (or some other variation of "not a natural, whole egg"?) in the latter case, the label makes sense. otherwise, that's a wonky label you got there!

[brigala]

Maybe they actually were getting a lot of people ASKING whether they were gluten-free eggs or not.

I know there are a lot of things which are usually gluten-free, like cottage cheese, but which some companies (Darigold comes to mind) actually label as such. I appreciate the label, because I am suspicious of anything that could have gluten-containing ingredients added to it.

That being said, labeling eggs is going pretty far. Unless it's a processed egg food (powdered, pasteurized, frozen, etc.) then obviously it's gluten-free. A better label would say something like: "Eggs: A Naturally Gluten-Free Food!"

-Elizabeth

[TimK]

Thanks for all the replies. I had a feeling that this was nothing more then a company looking to make their product stand out from the rest. That really bothers me. Its not the easiest thing when you first start out checking labels. But then to have a company put this on their product. It makes you think you were eating gluten this whole time and just didn't realize it. BTW. It was a dozen free range eggs in the shells. Just said "Gluten Free Eggs" on the front so it was a bit confusing.