PRODUCTS

Labels and Foodstuffs

In compliance with the Spanish and European laws, manufacturers must write in the ingredients label if they have added on purpose wheat, barley, rye, oats or any of their derived products. If a product is marked as “Sin Gluten” (gluten-free) it must contain (by law) less than 20mg/kg (ppm) of gluten.

As regards specific gluten-free products, you will frequently see they have also the Controlado por FACE stamp, which guarantees less than 10 mg/kg (ppm) of gluten.

Ordinary products signed as “Sin Gluten”, may have different gluten-free labels, depending on the brand or on the market. For example, in Mercadona supermarkets everything is clearly labelled, so that you can eat everything from that market if it has the “Sin Gluten” label. But it does not happen in all the supermarkets.


You should read the list of ingredients and AVOID those that contain:

• Trigo / Wheat
• Avena / Oats
• Cebada / Barley
• Centeno / Rye
• Espelta / Spelt
• Kamut
• Triticale / Triticum

Those products that have any of the ingredients of the list below MAY contain gluten:

• Almidones modificados / Modified starchs (E-1404, E-1410, E-1412, E-1413, E-1420, E-1422, E-1440, E-1442, E-1450)
• Almidón / Starches
• Amiláceos / Starchies
• Aromas / Scents (some of them)
• Fécula / Starches
• Fibra / Fiber
• Gofio / Special flour from Canary Islands
• Harina / Flour
• Hidrolizado de proteína / Protein hydrolyzed
• Hidrolizado de proteína vegetal / Vegetal protein hydrolyzed
• Cereales / Cereals
• Condimentos / Condiments
• Espesantes / Thickeners
• Extracto de levadura / Yeast extract
• Malta / Malt
• Jarabe de malta / Malt syrup
• Extracto de malta / Malt extract
• Proteína / Protein
• Proteína vegetal / Vegetal protein
• Sémola / Semolina

Be careful if you read the phrase: “Puede contener trazas de gluten” / It can contain gluten traces.

The following foodstuffs MAY contain gluten:

• Sausages, mayonnaise, cold meat (Cecina, Parma ham and extra quality cooked ham are safe).
• Flavored yogurt or yogurt with fruit pieces (natural yogurt is safe).
• Processed / grated cheese or cheese spread and pâté.
• Meat or fish canned with sauces.
• Some kind of candies or sweets, ice creams, toasted nuts.
• Chocolate and coffee substitutes.
• Food coloring (sometimes in paella) and curry.

Fortunately, our country is very rich in food you CAN safely eat:

• Fresh or dry fruits, vegetables, legumes, raw nuts, rice, corn and other cereals like tapioca, quinoa, millet, sorghum, amaranth and buckwheat.
• All kind of fresh, frozen or canned without sauces meats and  also Cecina, Parma ham and extra quality cooked ham.
• All kind of fresh or frozen fishes and seafood (not coated in breadcrumbs) canned without sauce (in oil is ok).
• Eggs, milk and derived of milk like cheese, cream, requesón, cuajada, natural yogurts.
• Salt, oil, vinegar, natural spices (not curry), sugar, honey.
• Wine, cider, cava (Catalan champagne), soft drinks, coffee, natural infusions (tea, chamomile, mint). Infusions with aromas or flavors contain gluten.

Stores

You do not need to come to Spain with your suitcase full of gluten-free products (unless you are coming to a very little village). You can find gluten-free food (bread, cereals, cookies...) in:

Supermarkets (big chains of super and hypermarkets all over Spain):
  Ahorramas (Madrid and Castilla La Mancha) 
  Alcampo
 bonÀrea (Catalonia, Aragón, Comunidad Valenciana, Madrid and Andorra)
  Bonpreu (Catalonia)
  Carrefour
  Condis
  Dia
  elárbol
  El Corte Inglés
  E.LECLERC
  EROSKI
  ESCLAT (Catalonia)
  GADIS (Galicia and Castilla y León)
  HIBER
  HIPERCOR
  HiperDino (Canary Islands)
  HiperUsera (Madrid and Castilla La Mancha)
  la Sirena
  LIDL
  lupa
  MERCADONA
  OpenCor
  Panishop
  SANCHEZ ROMERO (Madrid)
  SIMPLY

Health food and specialized shops
 Check the information of every region coeliacs/celiacs association here or this specialized shop list. 

You can also search the business of a province or a city at www.viajarsingluten.com/tiendas-sin-gluten/ or at http://www.celiacoalostreinta.com/p/es.html.