Ice Tea Mixes

[LilyR]

I think I heard Lipton Ice Tea mix is gluten-free. Has anyone used that and felt okay?  Does anyone know about the Market Basket brand of ice tea mix?  It says it contains natural  flavor.

[Scott Adams]

I've never used a mix, but have you considered just brewing tea instead? I bet there would be far less ingredients compared to a mix...just tea and water.

[LilyR]

  On 7/14/2017 at 6:53 PM, admin said:

I've never used a mix, but have you considered just brewing tea instead? I bet there would be far less ingredients compared to a mix...just tea and water.

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I do brew my own a lot, but have had major fatigue the past week, and hubby will make me powdered ice tea for me, but he has never made the fresh brewed.  Maybe I'll just wait until I feel up to making it.  Better safe than sorry.  I am new to going gluten-free and I don't want to accidentally have any.  I just want to start feeling better. Gotta love that vague "natural flavoring" in ingredients. 

 

Thanks for your help.  

[LilyR]

Well, in looking more into it, I saw this on Lipton Ice Tea's website:

"While we don't currently make  gluten-free label claims. none of the ingredients in our products  are derived from grains or flours that have been linked to malabsorption syndrome associated with gluten sensitivity."  

For some reason that was mentioned in a FAQ about their premade ice teas so I am only assuming it also might mean their mixes since it says "none of the ingredients in our products."  But maybe I'll just avoid it for now.  Then once I am feeling  better and I try it again I can see if it bothers me or not.  The only ingredient on the label that I question is that natural flavoring.  

Meanwhile, Nestea states on their website under FAQ, Does NESTEA contain gluten, and the answer was: "

• No — the recipes do not include ingredients that contain gluten."

I just don't always find that brand in its powder mix form in many stores anymore.  

[squirmingitch]

This scare over the "natural flavorings" is one of those internet myths. By law, in the US, wheat must always be clearly listed as WHEAT on the ingredients list. This is because wheat is also 1 of the top 8 allergens so they can't hide it by saying natural flavorings. Now that leaves us with rye & barley. We all know rye is in very few things & you wouldn't run into it in something like tea or coffee or green beans or tomato sauce or marinara sauce or a billion other things. You have to pretty much head to the crackers or bread to find rye. Now let's look at barley..... whenever you see barley in the ingredients then don't eat it; the same goes for malt because malt is made from barley.

So in short, forget worrying about this "natural flavorings" listing on ingredients. Instead, look for wheat, barley, malt or rye on an ingredients list.

[LilyR]

  On 7/19/2017 at 8:48 PM, squirmingitch said:

This scare over the "natural flavorings" is one of those internet myths. By law, in the US, wheat must always be clearly listed as WHEAT on the ingredients list. This is because wheat is also 1 of the top 8 allergens so they can't hide it by saying natural flavorings. Now that leaves us with rye & barley. We all know rye is in very few things & you wouldn't run into it in something like tea or coffee or green beans or tomato sauce or marinara sauce or a billion other things. You have to pretty much head to the crackers or bread to find rye. Now let's look at barley..... whenever you see barley in the ingredients then don't eat it; the same goes for malt because malt is made from barley.

So in short, forget worrying about this "natural flavorings" listing on ingredients. Instead, look for wheat, barley, malt or rye on an ingredients list.

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Thanks for that info on "natural flavoring."  That helps a newbie at this a lot.