Is cottage cheese gluten free? This topic is important to many people, especially over recent years since gluten has come into the spotlight. You cannot go into most grocery stores nowadays without seeing several products labeled as gluten free. While many products are likely labeled as gluten free to capitalize off the gluten free craze, gluten intolerance or non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a real thing.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is located in grains such as wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is responsible for creating the springy feel to dough and helps join food together. Gluten can create swelling, pain and damage to the small intestine for those with celiac disease. The symptoms may include diarrhea, weight loss, bloating, and headaches. To the lesser extent, people may have gluten sensitivity that does not impact the small intestine like celiac but can harvest similar symptoms.
Is Cottage Cheese Gluten Free?
Cottage Cheese is a dairy product and fortunately for those looking to avoid gluten, most natural dairy products are gluten free. The only time you may see gluten in cottage cheese may be if it contains a wheat based modified food starch. Simply put, it is rare to find a major cottage cheese brand that has gluten. However, if gluten is a concern to you, please check the label before buying because products do change and are not guaranteed to be gluten free unless confirmed as so.
Below we have compiled a selection of major cottage cheese brands and found out what the manufactures had to say about gluten in their products. You will notice that the majority of brands are gluten free with some cautionary verbiage for some brands. While this is just a sample of brands, the data below is typical of most cottage cheese products.
| Brand | Company Gluten Statement |
|---|---|
| Anderson Erickson | Cottage cheese is listed as gluten free food. |
| Cabot | "All of Cabot's products are gluten-free with the exception of the spreadable cheddars and deli cheese that is repacked at your local grocery store." |
| Clover | All products listed as gluten free. |
| Daisy | "Yes, Daisy products are gluten-free. They contain no starch." |
| Friendship Dairies | "Q: Are any of your products gluten free?" "A: Yes. They all are." |
| Hood | "Q. Which Hood products are gluten free?" "Hood Cottage Cheese (all flavors and fat levels)." |
| Horizon Organics | "We make every effort to ensure that Horizon Organic milk products are free of wheat, wheat gluten, rye, oats, barley and malt. While it is virtually impossible to be certain that each carton is 100% free of all gluten, Horizon Organic milk products are suitable for most people with wheat and gluten allergies. People with severe allergies should consult a doctor before introducing a new food." |
| LACTAID | "Most LACTAID® Dairy Products do not contain gluten. The only products that do contain gluten are LACTAID® Cookies & Cream Ice Cream and LACTAID® Berry Chocolate Crumble Ice Cream." |
| Nancy's | "Yes, all of Nancy’s Cultured Dairy and Soy Products are gluten-free. Enjoy!" |
| Organic Valley | "On our web site, we list the cottage cheese as not gluten free as a precautionary measure for our gluten-sensitive consumers. This product doesn't contain a known gluten source as an ingredient." "According to our ingredient supplier, a barley source MAY be used as a fermentation nutrient in one of our cultures in the cottage cheese. Whether or not there is barley in the final product, we cannot make a definite statement. During the manufacturing process, the culture is "used up" to form the curds and provide the lactic acid fermentation of the milk." |
| Shamrock Farms | "Shamrock Farms farm-fresh dairy products are gluten free, with the exception of some ice cream varieties only available at restaurants." |