Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Kraft Shredded Cheese?

abby03

Recommended Posts

abby03 Contributor
abby03
Posted

I was wondering if anyone could let me know for sure if this shredded cheese I have is gluten free?

It's Kraft Natural shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The ingredients are:

"Cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annatto (color); potato starch, cellulose powder, and calcium sulfate added to prevent caking; natamycin (a natural mold inhibitor)"

I've read that Kraft is good about labeling or something (can someone explain?) but I'm still pretty new to this and paranoid about things that don't specifically say gluten free on them. And the other week I thought I read something on here about kraft not confirming that products are gluten free when people call or something. I'm not sure, maybe I'm remembering wrong. I think the cheese looks okay but I just wanted to be sure. if you guys could help that would be great. Thanks so much!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

This cheese is fine. I use Kraft shredded cheeses quite often:)

Kraft is a company that will disclose any gluten on the ingredient list.

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

Kraft cheese is good stuff. If you can find the WHITE cheddar, it is even better. Here in the midwest they put that nasty orange dye (annatto)in ALL cheeses and all it does is water down the taste and mealy up the texture. Safeway has white cheddar, and so does Walmart - they have Cabot extra-sharp white cheddar, and if you've never had it, TRY it! It's so good it's worth bying the big brick and shredding your own.

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

Yeah-- Cabot is really good:)

abby03 Contributor
abby03
Posted
  • Author

Thanks so much, guys!

Oh and believe me- my mom and I LOVE Cabot. We have some of the Seriously Sharp white cheddar right now and it's sooooo good. I bought the Kraft pre shredded because it's better for salads. Not really taste wise but in texture. The Cabot is very moist and it tends to stay in one big clump when you put it in a salad while the Kraft doesn't really stick together at all. Plus when I shred up some of the Cabot to put into a salad it tends to disappear before it makes it into my bowl...strange haha. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

They dust the shreds with corn starch to keep it from clumping together. If you can tolerate corn you could do the same with the Cabot.

Darn210 Enthusiast
Darn210
Posted

I've read that Kraft is good about labeling or something (can someone explain?)

What this means is that for the generic terms of "natural flavoring" or "seasonings", Kraft will put something like "natural flavoring (derived from barley)" so that you know when you read the label if something is hidden in the generic term.

Other good companies that do this are Unilever and ConAgra.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

They dust the shreds with corn starch to keep it from clumping together. If you can tolerate corn you could do the same with the Cabot.

Not too sure they dust with corn starch. Most use cellulose.

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

And the cellulose is often derived from corn. (It's better than wood chips!) The corn allergy forums said to avoid these so I assumed it was corn starch, but either way it has a high potential to have corn. And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

And the cellulose is often derived from corn. (It's better than wood chips!) The corn allergy forums said to avoid these so I assumed it was corn starch, but either way it has a high potential to have corn. And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

I have never heard of Open Original Shared Link being derived from corn (or any other grain). Please provide a verifiable source for this allegation.

Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

And they DO reccommend using corn starch at home.

HUH? :blink: I'm pretty knowledgeable about gluten, but I have no need to research corn...thank goodness. I can assume it would be very difficult.

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

It is extremely difficult! If the only thing that bothered me were gluten I would be able to eat most gluten-free breads and other goodies. As it is, I have to eat only whole foods. (Well, except for the Hagen Daz vanilla. :rolleyes: ) But then again, I wouldn't be back to BELOW my high school weight, so I guess I'll take the good with the bad.

Here's a link about using corn starch at home:

Open Original Shared Link

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

Here's a link about using corn starch at home:

Open Original Shared Link

Okay, but using corn starch at home has nothing to do with cellulose used in manufacturing.

From that very link: "If you look at bags of pre-shredded cheese in the supermarket, you will see they have an anti-clumping agent, usually cellulose." [emphasis mine]

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

But my point is, cellulose CAN be from corn. It isn't always, but if you have a corn intolerance or allergy it's wise to avoid cellulose. They don't have to name the source on the label and the only way to know for sure is to contact the manufacturer. And half the time they can't tell you because they get their cellulose from many different sources depending on price and availability.

Here is a list of POSSIBLE corn containing ingredients I got from one of my corn allergy sites:

Open Original Shared Link

  • 9 months later...
CommonTater Contributor
CommonTater
Posted

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

..and that would be a clear violation of the law.  If wheat is used in a product, by law, it must be listed on the ingredient listing or allergin statement.  Kraft had a great policy and lists all forms of gluten.  Perhaps, you contacted an uninformed customer relations representative.

 

Open Original Shared Link

CommonTater Contributor
CommonTater
Posted

The lady seemed to be very informed. Here is the phone number. 1-800-847-1997

 

She said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

Gemini Experienced
Gemini
Posted

Unless the rep has Celiac Disease, she is not informed.  I am extremely sensitive and use Kraft cheeses and have never reacted.  Ditto for many other Celiacs.  You cannot hide gluten in flavorings or anything else without disclosing  that and Kraft is a very gluten-free friendly company.  What she gave you was a CYA statement to cover their butts from a litigation point of view.  Everyone says this and it means nothing for the Celiac.....it just protects the company in case someone decides to sue them.

 

In any case, "color", "flavorings" and "spices", not spice blends, are safe for Celiacs 99.9% of the time.  That's another clue she wasn't informed or she would have known this.  These are celiac myths that just won't die.  Cheese can make anyone sick for many other reasons but there is no gluten in Kraft cheese.....shredded or otherwise.

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

In other words, they won't make a "gluten-free" claim for legal reasons. Frequently "not gluten-free" only means not tested to verify gluten-free status--not that gluten is actually present.

  • 1 year later...
Seeking2012 Contributor
Seeking2012
Posted

We just called Kraft because I've been sick for the past 3 days after eating Kraft cheese. My husband spoke to them and they told him it is NOT gluten free. They said IF the ingredients show 'Color' or 'flavor' or 'Spice it' could contain trace amounts of gluten because they get those ingredients from another source.

What specific product was it?

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

This is an old topic, and CommonTater has not been here in over a year.

  • 5 weeks later...
mynxr Rookie
mynxr
Posted

Thanks so much, guys!

Oh and believe me- my mom and I LOVE Cabot. We have some of the Seriously Sharp white cheddar right now and it's sooooo good. I bought the Kraft pre shredded because it's better for salads. Not really taste wise but in texture. The Cabot is very moist and it tends to stay in one big clump when you put it in a salad while the Kraft doesn't really stick together at all. Plus when I shred up some of the Cabot to put into a salad it tends to disappear before it makes it into my bowl...strange haha. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

The reason the Kraft cheese shreds don't stick together is because of the potato starch.  The shreds are covered with the potato starch so they don't stick together.  You can use that same thing to keep raisins suspended in breads, etc.  Just coat them with potato or corn starch before putting them in the batter.  Then they grab onto the dough instead of being so heavy that they drop to the bottom.  I don't know if you can make this work with cheese that you shred yourself or not.  I'll have to do some experimenting.  I usually just dice the cheese up very fine and that works pretty well.

bartfull Rising Star
bartfull
Posted

Oops. Wrong thread.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,948
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Stephanie94
    Newest Member
    Stephanie94
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jacki Espo
      Covid caused reoccurrence of DH without eating gluten

      By Jacki Espo · Posted

      This happened to me as well. What’s weirder is that within a couple hours of taking paxlovid it subsided. I thought maybe I got glutened but after reading your post not so sure. 
    • Mari
      New Celiac Mama in My 30s

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Tiffany. Thank you for writing your dituation and  circumstancesin such detail and so well writte, too. I particularly noticed what you wrote about brain for and feeling like your brain is swelling and I know from my own experiences that's how it feel and your brain really does swell and you get migraines.    Way back when I was in my 20s I read a book by 2 MD allergist and they described their patient who came in complaining that her brain, inside her cranium, was swelling  and it happened when she smelled a certain chemical she used in her home. She kept coming back and insisting her brain actually swelled in her head. The Drs couldn't explain this problem so they, with her permission, performed an operation where they made a small opening through her cranium, exposed her to the chemical then watched as she brain did swell into the opening. The DRs were amazed but then were able to advise her to avoid chemicals that made her brain swell. I remember that because I occasionally had brain fog then but it was not a serious problem. I also realized that I was becoming more sensitive to chemicals I used in my work in medical laboratories. By my mid forties the brain fog and chemicals forced me to leave my  profession and move to a rural area with little pollution. I did not have migraines. I was told a little later that I had a more porous blood brain barrier than other people. Chemicals in the air would go up into my sinused and leak through the blood brain barrier into my brain. We have 2 arteries  in our neck that carry blood with the nutrients and oxygen into the brain. To remove the fluids and used blood from the brain there are only capillaries and no large veins to carry it away so all those fluids ooze out much more slowly than they came in and since the small capillaries can't take care of extra fluid it results in swelling in the face, especially around the eyes. My blood flow into my brain is different from most other people as I have an arterial ischema, adefectiveartery on one side.   I have to go forward about 20 or more years when I learned that I had glaucoma, an eye problem that causes blindness and more years until I learned I had celiac disease.  The eye Dr described my glaucoma as a very slow loss of vision that I wouldn't  notice until had noticeable loss of sight.  I could have my eye pressure checked regularly or it would be best to have the cataracts removed from both eyes. I kept putting off the surgery then just overnight lost most of the vision in my left eye. I thought at the I had been exposed to some chemical and found out a little later the person who livedbehind me was using some chemicals to build kayaks in a shed behind my house. I did not realize the signifance  of this until I started having appointments with a Dr. in a new building. New buildings give me brain fog, loss of balance and other problems I know about this time I experienced visual disturbances very similar to those experienced by people with migraines. I looked further online and read that people with glaucoma can suffer rapid loss of sight if they have silent migraines (no headache). The remedy for migraines is to identify and avoid the triggers. I already know most of my triggers - aromatic chemicals, some cleaning materials, gasoline and exhaust and mold toxins. I am very careful about using cleaning agents using mostly borax and baking powder. Anything that has any fragrance or smell I avoid. There is one brand of dishwashing detergent that I can use and several brands of  scouring powder. I hope you find some of this helpful and useful. I have not seen any evidence that Celiac Disease is involved with migraines or glaucoma. Please come back if you have questions or if what I wrote doesn't make senseto you. We sometimes haveto learn by experience and finding out why we have some problems. Take care.       The report did not mention migraines. 
    • Mari
      My only proof

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Jmartes71 That is so much like my story! You probably know where Laytonville is and that's where I was living just before my 60th birthday when the new Dr. suggested I could have Celiacs. I didn't go on a gluten challange diet before having the Celiac panel blood test drawn. The results came back as equivical as one antibody level was very high but another, tissue transaminasewas normal. Itdid show I was  allergic to cows milk and I think hot peppers. I immediately went gluten free but did not go in for an endoscopy. I found an online lab online that would do the test to show if I had a main celiac gene (enterolab.com). The report came back that I had inherited a main celiac gene, DQ8, from one parent and a D!6 from the other parent. That combination is knows to sym[tons of celiac worse than just inheriting one main celiac gene. With my version of celiac disease I was mostly constipated but after going gluten-free I would have diarrhea the few times I was glutened either by cross contamination or eating some food containing gluten. I have stayed gluten-free for almost 20 years now and knew within a few days that it was right for me although my recovery has been slow.   When I go to see a  medical provide and tell them I have celiacs they don't believe me. The same when I tell them that I carry a main celiac gene, the DQ8. It is only when I tell them that I get diarrhea after eating gluten that they realize that I might have celiac disease. Then they will order th Vitamin B12 and D3 that I need to monitor as my B12 levels can go down very fast if I'm not taking enough of it. Medical providers haven't been much help in my recovery. They are not well trained in this problem. I really hope this helps ypu. Take care.      
    • knitty kitty
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Fascinating.
    • DebJ14
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By DebJ14 · Posted

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.