Have you been gluten-free for years yet still have symptoms? You need to look deeper at what you eat, including whether it’s made in a gluten-free facility or not. I learned this the hard way.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
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Gluten Free Facility vs Not
Many foods that tout they are gluten free, even gluten-free certified, aren’t made in a gluten-free facility. This means that there is the chance of cross-contamination.
Even a speck of gluten/wheat can cause reaction in someone who is sensitive to gluten or has Celiac disease.
I know that it’s believed that people with Celiac disease are more at risk but even people with gluten sensitivity and other autoimmune diseases can react to small amounts of gluten. I found this out the hard way.
I’ve been strictly gluten free for 10 years. I don’t even go out to eat, for the fear of cross-contamination. Last year, I had a GI-MAP test which shows what’s going on in my body, any infections, viruses hiding, etc. but it also shows inflammation, and more importantly, anti-gliadin IgA antibodies.
This marker shows whether the body is coming into contact with gluten and reacting to it.
Though I had been strictly gluten-free, eating mainly whole foods, hardly any packaged foods, and if I did have packaged foods, ONLY those that are certified gluten free, I still had levels of anti-gliadin IgA antibodies that were off the charts, in my GI-MAP test.
I was floored. I was so upset I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t have any outward symptoms such as a stomach ache, etc. but my body is somehow coming into contact with gluten and my body was NOT happy about it. My inflammation was also off the charts, which can cause more issues and more autoimmune diseases than I already have.
THIS is when I realized I had to look not only at the individual foods, as I always have, but also the chance of cross-contamination within the facilities that the food is made in.
Note: this is also when our whole family of 5 went strictly gluten-free. My oldest son is also highly gluten-sensitive, so this isn’t just for me, it’s for both of us. Gluten is no longer allowed in our home.
I started looking at the product pages of each of the gluten-free foods I was ingesting to see if they are manufactured in a gluten-free facility. Beyond looking at websites, I have spent countless hours emailing companies of the ‘gluten-free’ foods that our family eats, to see if they are made within a gluten-free facility and of truly gluten-free ingredients.
To my surprise, most foods and even brands that tout they are ‘certified gluten-free’ are NOT made in dedicated gluten-free facilities, which leads to the high potential of cross-contamination.
Think about it this way, when you open a bag of gluten-free flour, how much it can go everywhere, even when you just open it, let alone when you make something with it. Now think about how that is on the large scale of a facility that handles gluten-containing flour and gluten-free flour. There is nothing that stops the two from co-mingling, and there is no way to truly clean the equipment well enough to make it safe from cross-contamination.
You May Be Thinking…But I Feel Fine…?
Again, anyone with any type of gluten sensitivity, autoimmune disease, Celiac disease, etc. may not have symptoms from eating these foods that can contain up to 20ppm gluten BUT internally, there’s a different story going on.
I had no idea that I was having issues until I had a GI-MAP test done. My levels were so high that the practitioner I was working with didn’t believe me that I’ve been strictly gluten-free for years!
Note: I am not a medical professional. I cannot recommend you have a GI-MAP test. I don’t get any commission nor have any deals with the company that makes the GI-MAP test, this is simply a call-out, based on my own experience, that just because you feel fine doesn’t mean that you aren’t ingesting trace amounts of gluten.
Foods from a Gluten Free Facility
Out of all of the products our family consumes on a regular basis, from food to shampoo (yes, gluten can be absorbed through the skin), to medications, prescriptions, supplements, lip balm, etc. I’m surprised how many claim to be gluten-free yet aren’t made in a gluten-free facility, hence a huge chance of cross-contamination.
Let’s talk real quick about testing: FDA testing only requires for a food to be labeled as ‘gluten free’ or even certified gluten free, that they are under 20ppm. That’s a lot. For a body that is highly sensitive to gluten, like mine, or someone with Celiac disease, that’s enough to cause symptoms, inflammation, and lasting issues that will lead to other health conditions. This isn’t good enough!
Below is a table of companies that say they are gluten-free and when I contacted them via email, confirm that their foods are made within a gluten-free facility.
Something to note as you look at these, myself and my oldest son also have multiple food sensitivities in addition to gluten, including dairy and soy. Therefore, some of the brands below may not be familiar to you.
These are the only brands I trust right now.
Btw, this was originally written in November 2025, I’ve been emailing companies for over a year now.
Also, keep in mind, that just because one food from a company is made in a gluten-free facility, doesn’t mean they all are.
The following brands have assured me, via email or their website, that they are produced in a gluten-free facility. These are the only non-raw foods that I trust:
- Tierra Farms – all their nuts and other products are made in their gluten-free facility
- Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats
- Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour (note: NOT all Bob’s Red Mill products are made in a GF facility, only some. Check labeling and their site).
- Spry Cinnamon Mints
- Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
- Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos: Gluten-free facility for coconut aminos and teriyaki but NOT their marinade, which is made in a different facility.
- Otto’s Cassava Flour
- Jovial Pasta: I asked specifically about their brown rice pasta and cassava flour pasta, both in GF facility
- Namaste Foods
- Kinnikinick Foods (snack foods, my kids love them, and they’re a guilty pleasure for me once in a while!)
- Enjoy Life: all products except lentils are made in a gluten-free facility
- YumEarth Pops and Drops: Pops and Drops are made in a gluten-free facility, but not other YumEarth products
- Sunbutter
- Schar Breads the only bread our family eats, we buy 7 loaves a month!
- Katz
- MadeGood
- Mr. Dells Hashbrowns
- Veganaise
- Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Cheese
- Violife Dairy Free: “Violife range is free from dairy, lactose, milk, casein, whey, eggs, gluten(contained in wheat, oats, barley, rye), soya, nuts (including peanuts & tree nuts), fish, shellfish, mustard, sesame and cereals containing gluten. They are manufactured in an egg-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, nut-free, sesame-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, mustard-free and oats-free facility.“
- Canyon Bakehouse
- Red Apple Lipstick (yep, need to be careful about cosmetics too. I don’t wear make up regularly but once in a while I like to put on lipstick)
- EOS lip products/lotions
- Aloha Bars and Powders
- Paleo Valley Beef Sticks
- GF Jules Gluten Free Flours
Brands that do NOT use Gluten-Free Facilities
Below are brands that when I emailed them directly regarding if they make their ‘gluten-free’ foods in a gluten-free facility, they told me they do not.
Some do testing that shows under 20ppm (which can still cause inflammation and damage to you without knowing it) whereas others told me they don’t test at all. It sickens me that they are considered to be ‘gluten-free’ and that is okayed by the FDA. How is this a thing?
Note: I am not saying these companies are bad, I am saying that if you are highly sensitive to gluten, especially if you’ve had a GI-MAP test done that shows you’re somehow still reacting to gluten you’re ingesting, you may want to consider finding alternatives.
- Nuts.com – wheat in facility
- Birds Eye Frozen Veggies – wheat in facility, they say they ‘clean’….
- Good & Gather Frozen Vegetables – label states wheat in same facility
- Popcorners – shared equipment with wheat
- Barilla Gluten-Free pasta – produced on a gluten-free line but not gluten free facility
- Earth Balance Dairy Free Spreads: Shared equipment with wheat/gluten
- Cheerios – Shared equipment with wheat/gluten. They don’t even test regularly, and when they do, sometimes it’s 10ppm and others 300ppm. More on these here from Gluten Free Watchdog.
- Smithfield meats: No GF ingredients but they say they’re unsure about spices. Gluten is in facility.
- Applegate meats: NOT a gluten-free facility. They do say their equipment is cleaned, swab tested, etc. but personally…I don’t trust it.
- Udis Gluten Free Breads: They no longer have a direct contact to their brand. When I contacted their parent company, Conagra, they told me they “do not have a gluten-free product list” and they suggest I check product labels. (Come on…it’s a GLUTEN FREE BRAND and you can’t be straight with me?!) They test their ‘gluten free foods’ to be under 20ppm (but again, this can still cause issues).
- Blistex Lip Balm: Their packaging has stated it’s gluten free in the past, but no longer does. The company told me they cannot claim it’s gluten-free as they don’t test it.
- Cliganic Lip Balm: They have the gluten-free claim though say they are not made in a gluten-free facility and that I should check with my medical professional if I need to be that careful…
- Idahoan Instant Potatoes: Their packaging claims they are gluten-free yet they told me via email they do not test their products for gluten nor are they made within a gluten-free facility.
- Love, Beauty, Planet Personal Care: I used to use their shampoo and conditioner, thinking it was gluten-free since it’s free of so many other things. However, when I contacted them, they told me they don’t test for it and don’t claim to be gluten-free.
- Any generic gluten-free flours
- King Arthur Gluten Free Flours and Mixes: they do testing and cleaning but are not a GF facility.
Honestly…all of the companies above, I had been using for years, trusting that due to them having the ‘gluten free’ or ‘gluten free certified’ that I was safe. Apparently, that is not the case.
My Reasoning for Sharing
I’m providing this information simply as a service to others who are highly sensitive to gluten, or diagnosed with Celiac disease. I think it’s despicable that we are told these foods are safe, yet they are not for our highly sensitive systems.
As I stated above, I don’t get a kickback from any company, I’m not here to disparage anyone, I simply want to share all the research I’ve done over the past year with others who may benefit from it.
More of My Story
If you’d like to know more about my story, here it is.
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease in 2015. Most people with Hashi’s feel better on a gluten-free diet, as well as being dairy-free, and soy-free. This has been the case for me as well. (I had been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in 1998, but doctors never told me that it was 90% likely to be caused by an autoimmune disease that literally eats away at my thyroid.)
The week I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease, I started the Autoimmune Protocol, which is free of those three foods plus MANY more. I wanted to heal my gut, as I had just been through what I now know to be a horrible autoimmune flare, and I wanted to prep my body to have a baby (I was 29 at this time).
I won’t go into huge detail about all of those things here, but I have linked words in the paragraph above to blog posts I’ve written in more depth about each topic.
Eight years later and 2 pregnancies later (including twins) I finally had the capacity to work on my own health again. I had GI-MAP test in 2023 to see why I was continuing to have chronic symptoms. That was the first OH SH*T moment where I saw that despite being more strictly gluten-free than most celiacs I know, I was somehow ingesting gluten…and my body was NOT happy about.
I started contacting companies, checking websites, etc. regarding true gluten-free status. Also, our whole household went gluten free. We had strict cross-contamination protocols in place previously, but the whole house going gluten-free was the only way we felt we could keep myself, and my oldest son who is also highly sensitive to gluten, safe.
I was retested two years later…and somehow, am still ingesting gluten, and again, my body is NOT happy about it. The anti-gliadin IgA antibodies were no longer ‘off the charts’ but I still was being questioned by my practitioner as to whether I was actually gluten free. Ugh!!!!
So I started all over again. Went back and contacted EVERY company whose food I eat or products I come into contact with, to see if they are made within a gluten-free facilitly.
This also included the prescriptions I’m on. Luckily, I was able to get off of a couple of them, but the one for my thyroid, I have to take. I switched from the generic inexpensive Levothyroxine to the name-brand, very expensive, Tirosint. Tirosint doesn’t have any gluten or any fillers. It’s also 3x the price as my former medication. And that’s with their special coupon on their website. If I didn’t have that, it would be 11x more expensive ($3.75/day instead of the $0.32 generic was).
I will say, when I contacted Levothyroxine, they told me that they are gluten-free…however, I felt very brushed off and have read that some of their ingredients are sometimes derived from wheat, such as their starches. Therefore, I don’t trust it, personally.
Which is why I’ve switched to the much more expensive brand that my insurance doesn’t cover, and even if they did, would still cost almost $4 a day if I didn’t have the coupon from their site.
Anyway…all that to say, you have to check EVERYTHING!!!
The reasons I did the GI-MAP testing was because I am constantly bloated. Honestly, I look like I’m 4 months pregnant, and I can assure you I am not. It’s really frustrating considering how little I eat, how I don’t eat any fast food, hardly any processed foods, etc. I felt there had to be a reason for it.
I did find that in addition to gluten somehow sneaking in and upsetting my system, I also have an H.Pylori infection. My husband and I just finished our second round of treatment for that (it spreads via kissing). I won’t get into that here but…we’ll see if it’s finally gone next month when I have another GI-MAP test.
Note: I have not been formally diagnosed with celiac disease. It is an autoimmune disease, as is Hashimoto’s, once you have one, you’re likely to have others. I have not had the test for it as I wanted to start being gluten-free once I had my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Disease and didn’t care whether or not I was Celiac first. To be truly tested for Celiac disease I would have to eat gluten for a month or so. It would then take several months, up to years, for it to fully clear my system. The GI MAP test shows me that gluten negatively affects my body, and I can tell that it does, therefore, that’s good enough for me. I don’t need a formal diagnosis.
Again, I have no affiliation with the makers of the GI-MAP test, but if you want to know more about what it tests, they have a whole interpretative guide here. You’ll need to go through a functional medicine practitioner to get one, and it will be out-of-pocket, as is anything that is worthwhile in healthcare these days.
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.