Is TABASCO Sauce Gluten Free?

The topic today at The CHEW , an ABC cooking show with Daphne Oz, was hot and spicy and they gave away a bucket of TABASCO Products to the studio audience. I was so happy to get an amazing assortment of TABASCO products after attending with my friend Amie. Not only is tabasco something I can eat–tabasco is something I LOVE to eat.

The following are Tabasco brand products that are “considered” gluten free. All the products use distilled vinegar which is produced from grain based alcohol. But, they couldn’t find any detectable gluten in the final product of the products that are gluten free. (See the letter below if you want more info on testing.) Some people I know with celiac react to distilled vinegar. Others do fine with it. It is a good idea to watch if you have symptoms if you don’t know if you react to a product that uses distilled vinegar. Although these products are found to have no detectable levels of gluten in the final product when tested, the best test is how you actually how you feel.

I am so excited for all the products that test gluten free and are “considered” gluten free…

TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Habanero Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Garlic Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Green Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Garlic Basting Sauce
TABASCO® Brand New Orleans Style Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Caribbean Style Steak Sauce

The following are NOT GLUTEN FREE according to an email I received from the company…

TABASCO® Brand Buffalo Style Hot Sauce-NOT GF
TABASCO® Brand SWEET & Spicy Pepper Sauce-NOT GF
TABASCO® Brand Steak Sauce-NOT GF
TABASCO® Brand Garlic Grilling/Marinating Sauce-NOT GF

Off to spice up my lunch with some Pepper Sauce!

Here is the email from the company I received on January 25, 2012…

Thank you for your interest in our TABASCO® products. All of our products that contain vinegar as an ingredient, we use high quality distilled vinegar. Distilled vinegar is produced by fermenting a grain based alcohol. The principal grains used to produce the alcohol are wheat and milo. Gluten and other proteins are completely removed during the alcohol fermentation and distillation process.

According to the definitions set forth by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint standards program of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States (FAO), the following TABASCO® Brand products are considered “Gluten Free”:

TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Habanero Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Garlic Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Green Pepper Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Garlic Basting Sauce
TABASCO® Brand New Orleans Style Sauce
TABASCO® Brand Caribbean Style Steak Sauce

These products were analyzed for Gluten by the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska –Lincoln. FARRP was not able to find any detectable amounts of gluten in these products. If the McIlhenny Company can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to ask.

Our products are also dairy free.

Spicy Regards,
Sheila Romero
Tabasco Country Store
Customer Service
1-800-634-9599 Option 4
Countrystore@Tabasco.com