When it comes to reading labels, remember you are looking for Barley, Rye, Oats, Wheat or Spelt (BROWS), these will be highlighted, usually in bold. If the ingredients have these then put it back on the shelf. That's the simplified version.... except there are a few exceptions to that rule to complicate matters.
If an ingredient which is usually unsafe is prefixed with "gluten free" they are safe for Coeliacs. If not prefixed they aren't safe. When it is prefixed with "gluten free" though remember wheat/oats will still be highlighted for those with allergies, it doesn't mean you can't eat them
Another complication is barley malt vinegar. Barley will be highlighted again for those with allergies but for Coeliacs it is totally safe so always check if the barley is actually barley malt vinegar, if it is you are good to go. All vinegars in the UK are gluten free including ones from barley, this is because they go through a process which removes the gluten, you can find more info about this on Coeliac UK.
Barley malt extract is SOMETIMES safe however unless the product is tested and proven to be gluten free and below 20ppm you won't unfortunately know if it is safe just by looking at the ingredients. So with this one unless the product states gluten free, this one sits on the avoid side (Coeliac UK app can be helpful when it comes to this one as it does give some barley malt extract products which are safe, generally though it only seems to apply to a few home brand cereals.)
If it has a "may contain" or "made is a factory which handles" warning for allergens it means there could be cross contamination, so basically you are playing Russian roulette as to whether it's safe or not. Most Coeliacs avoid may contains but at the end of the day it is your choice on whether you avoid or not. If there was a 1 in 100 chance poison had been put in your food, would you eat it? Just saying!
So after that little labelling lesson. Lets have a look at a few products I am forever asked about and are gluten free.
When it comes to alcohol, all spirits, even those derived from barley are safe for Coeliacs. If you have a separate barley allergy then obviously they wouldn't be. Spirits are distilled and during the distilling process the gluten is removed. Alcohol doesn't usually have ingredients printed, however if it does contain an allergen, legally it HAS to be on there. If there is no ingredient list but does contain an allergen it will state "contains barley" or "contains wheat", if it doesn't the manufacturer faces a huge legal issue! If there is no allergy warnings...you are safe. This does include Baileys!
No ingredients are listed on Baileys (this is due to the alcohol content which is the case with all alcohol) however if you look on their website, you will find the ingredients list, the only allergen online or on the bottle is Milk. So go ahead and enjoy your Christmas Baileys, all the flavours are safe. They are also given in the Coeliac UK's book/app.
When you Google you may find contradicting info but check where you are looking, in Australia (and an AU website does tend to come up first!) Baileys isn't safe as they have different labelling, allergy laws and Coeliac guidelines to us. In the UK it is safe.
This one still baffles me every Christmas. I will see it countless times. All the major Christmas chocolates are straight forward apart from Heroes. Celebrations are NOT gluten free, even the ones you think are fine because the big bars are, they aren't in Celebrations because of the processing.
Quality Streets and Roses, check the ingredients, no gluten containing ingredients, no may contain these are fine and you can eat these to your hearts content.
Now Heroes. These always were gluten free until they added the dinky decker. Now because of that one, the ingredients include wheat and barley so just reading ingredients you would assume not safe...Just to throw a spanner in there though, all Heroes are made on separate lines unlike Celebrations, so because they are all wrapped individually you can still eat Heroes as long as you chuck the Deckers out! All the ingredients are merged together on the box rather than each choc being separate so it can through a bit of hesitancy into the equation, but it is just that pesky Decker that contains the gluten allergens, nothing else.
Love it or hate it the controversial question! This one really depends on context. So here's the low down. Yeast extract, as an ingredient in a product, is usually fine, UNLESS it has an allergen written by it. If it doesn't have wheat, barley or rye by it then it is safe, remember the labelling laws, allergens HAVE to be stated.
Marmite is not safe as they list Barley and Wheat in the ingredients (this is because the levels of gluten go above 20 parts per million), however there is other yeast extract spreads out there that are safe, Tesco's own to name just one of them. Neither barley or wheat are listed.
This seems to fall in the same area as yeast extract. As an ingredient is it fine, mustard will be highlighted as it is an allergen in itself this doesn't mean its not gluten free though. Mustard, like yeast extract, only contains gluten IF it has barley or wheat highlighted in brackets next to it.
The confusion comes from English Mustard, the type you might put on a hot dog, as this contains wheat as a thickening agent. Mustard powder/seeds are there own thing, an ingredient on their own, not the same as the made up condiment.
There are many products like this out there, so many things are easy to work out whether they are safe or not, learn your labels and get to know your ingredients and you are set. What other products confuse you? Let us know.