How Dangerous is Vinegar?

[the sensible celiac]

Vinegar can be a very controversial topic in the celiac community. Like many others, I've got my firmly held beliefs on the subject. I know from experience that some others disagree, that's why I'm posting this in the Controversy board.

First, as a celiac, you should know that you must always read the ingredients in any prepared food.  Sometimes you will see vinegar listed.  In the USA, when vinegar is listed with no other qualifications, it is to be apple cider vinegar according to FDA guidelines. So, if the manufacturer is playing by the rules, vinegar listed as just 'vinegar' should be OK.

Then there is the hotly contested issue of distilled vinegar. Science tells us that the process of distillation removes the large, heavy molecules - like proteins - from vinegar, leaving a solution of acetic acid in water. Some people with celiac disease report that they experience abdominal discomfort after consuming distilled vinegar, this is undoubtedly true, and also unfortunate, but it hardly establishes the presence of gluten in distilled vinegar. What it does establish is that those people do not tolerate distilled vinegar for an unknown reason.

I use vinegar as a flavor enhancer nearly every time I cook a meal. Usually I use apple cider vinegar, explicitly labelled as such, or rice vinegar. Since these products are made with fermented apples and rice respectively, I feel confident that they are completely GF.

I also eat pickles and other marinated foods without any concern for the source of the vinegar, and without ill effect.

So, what do you have to say about vinegar?

Steve

[CarolM]

I use many types of vinegars and have never had any ill effects from distilled varieties.

CarolM

[cpedrick]

I too love vinegar!  And pickled everything.  Especially vegetables.  And pickled green beans are so expensive I began making them myself years ago.  No canner needed, just the refrigerator and a few weeks.  Friends beg me for jars of them.  I'll add the reciped to the other heading at this site. 

[the sensible celiac]

Updating this old thread with some new information:

First of all, I have learned that vinegar is made commercially in a two stage process that begins by fermenting and then distilling alcohol, then in a second process bacteria are used to break down the alcohol into acetic acid.  Finally the resulting highly acidic mix is diluted, typically to 5% acid.  Vinegar is, after all, acetic acid.

I found a very detailed explanation of the process used to create distilled vinegar, the author, a retired professor of biochemistry with celiac disease, concludes that a person could drink up to 100 liters of distilled vinegar per day without exceeding the minimum level of gluten exposure considered safe in Europe.  Obviously nobody is going to drink one liter of vinegar, let alone 100.

However there is one type of vinegar that all people with celiac disease should definitely avoid at all costs, that is malt vinegar.

In the US we do not often see malt vinegar used as an ingredient in prepared foods, but in the UK it is widely used and can be found in virtually every chip shop (where fish and chips are sold).  Malt vinegar is made with barley malt, and some barley malt mash is present in the final product as flavoring.  It is wise to consider malt vinegar as always containing gluten, avoid it like the plague.

Apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar and rice vinegar are the 3 forms most used in home cooking, at least in my experience in the USA, and these can be expected to be gluten free because apples, grapes and rice are gluten free.

I reiterate that the warnings against use of distilled vinegar by people with celiac disease are a persistent myth with no basis in reality.  There are some people who report experiencing abdominal discomfort after eating foods containing distilled vinegar.  I do not know why this happens, but since there is no detectable level of gluten in distilled vinegar it is not caused by a gluten reaction to gluten in distilled vinegar.