Is Ice Cream Gluten Free?

A person newly diagnosed with celiac disease recently posted in a face book celiac group  that she felt sick every time she ate ice cream and she was wondering if she could also have an allergy to dairy. My response to her was that actually most ice cream brands contain gluten and like every other product on the supermarket shelves, a celiac must check the label. In Australia at least there are only a few brands which are actually gluten free.

It is hard to imagine someone putting gluten containing ingredients into ice cream but actually flour from wheat is in virtually all ice cream brands, not just the obvious ones like cookies-n-cream. And obviously ice cream cones contain gluten as well.

BEWARE of gluten containing ice cream

The basic dairy ingredients and sweeteners used to make ice cream are usually gluten free, as are, natural flavors such as vanilla, pure cocoa and fruits such as strawberries. Unfortunately, different ice cream brands will use different ingredients which do contain gluten, so it is absolutely essential that you read the label of the carton before purchasing.

For example, flour is often used to help thicken the mixture. Obviously, even a tiny bit is way too much for celiac, so it is important to check the labels of all brands – even the homemade ones brought in an ice cream shop. And even if you find a gluten free flavor – make sure there is no cross-contamination with other gluten-containing flavors and cones. Different ice cream flavors are often served with the same scoop all through the day; this means that the scoop has been in contact with the gluten-filled cookie dough flavor as well as the gluten free chocolate flavor.

Fortunately, this problem can be easily solved by asking the staff in the shop to serve your ice cream from a newly opened carton. At certain ice cream stores, the management reserves sanitized, unused ice cream scoops so that they can serve their gluten intolerant customers without endangering them with cross-contamination.

Never assume ice cream is gluten free (even a flavor that seems like it ought to be gluten-free, like simple vanilla or chocolate ice cream) unless you actually verify the ingredients.

Bulla (Australia) is the brand I buy for my celiac daughter.

If you have had a reaction to ice cream I suggest you stay off ice cream for a few weeks until you are feeling better. During this time find a gluten free brand you can eat. After the avoidance period reintroduce the gluten free ice cream into your diet. If you are not affected by it, then most probably the initial reaction was due to the gluten contamination in the ice cream itself. If you still react to it, the reaction could be due to the dairy and it would be wise to seek a diagnosis from your doctor.