Safe Gluten-Free Bean Options Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Diets Gluten-Free Safe Gluten-Free Bean Options By Jane Anderson Jane Anderson Jane Anderson is a medical journalist and an expert in celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the gluten-free diet. Learn about our editorial process Updated on July 26, 2020 Fact checked Verywell Fit content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. We rely on the most current and reputable sources, which are cited in the text and listed at the bottom of each article. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication. Learn more. by Adah Chung Fact checked by Adah Chung Adah Chung is a fact checker, writer, researcher, and occupational therapist. Learn about our editorial process Print Verywell / Alexandra Shytsman Why should you worry about gluten in beans—they're a naturally gluten-free food, right? Well, yes, but they're also a food that's subject to significant gluten cross-contamination... and that can be a problem for people with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. This contamination with gluten mostly happens in farmers' fields. It's common for farmers to grow beans and gluten grain crops in rotation, and they use the same planting, harvesting, and storage equipment for both. For example, lentil crops frequently are rotated with barley. In some areas, farmers alternate between wheat and chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or wheat and green peas. (Soybeans have their own issues.) When farmers use the same harvest and storage equipment for beans and gluten grains, then some cross-contamination is inevitable. The amount of gluten grain residue on beans processed in this way isn't high, but it's high enough to potentially make you sick, especially if you're more sensitive to trace gluten than average. How to Get Truly Gluten-Free Beans Beans are a great source of vegetable protein and fiber, and just make a nice addition to many dishes. If you're following a gluten-free vegetarian or vegan diet, you'll want to be able to eat beans for the protein (not to mention the variety). But what does this cross-contamination issue mean for the gluten-free community? First, know that not all bean crops are badly cross-contaminated. However, it's a big enough problem that some companies call out the risk on the labels of their dried beans with the statement "May Contain Wheat" (this is a voluntary statement, by the way, and they don't have to add it). It's possible to find barley kernels in bags of dried lentils, or wheat or barley in other packaged beans. However, you won't be able to tell whether your bag of mung beans (or kidney beans, or green peas, or adzuki beans) is cross-contaminated without eating them and then waiting to see if you experience symptoms—not a great way to find out. Anyone with celiac or gluten sensitivity—especially those who are particularly sensitive to trace gluten—should purchase only beans that are sold by a company that does its due diligence to keep them gluten-free. There's no guarantee that you won't still react to those beans, but the odds are considerably less. Gluten-Free Bean Sources Fortunately, there are two companies selling dried beans that take care to make sure they're safe. Edison Grainery Edison Grainery sells gluten grains, but it reserves a separate "allergen-free" warehouse building that's free of the top eight allergens (milk, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans), along with gluten and sesame. Edison sells numerous types of beans along with bean flour. To back up its commitment to gluten-free products, Edison sends a sample of every lot of its beans to an independent lab to test for gluten to less than 5 parts per million. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (along with Canada and most of Europe) legally defines "gluten-free" as less than 20 parts per million of gluten. Edison also tests for other contaminants, such as bacteria, yeast, and mold. Nuts com Despite its name, Nuts com offers beans and other food products. The company has been certified gluten-free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), which requires testing to ensure that products contain less than 10 parts per million of gluten. Dried bean options at Nuts com include cranberry beans, fava beans, garbanzo beans, great Northern beans, and cannellini beans. The company also offers five or six bean flours you can use in baking. At one time, Shiloh Farms listed certified gluten-free beans on their website. Several people reported problems with these (including finding gluten grains in bags of supposedly certified gluten-free beans), and the company no longer sells certified gluten-free beans. A Word from Verywell Be aware that some people react even to beans that are certified gluten-free. If that's the case for you, learn about beans for those sensitive to trace gluten. However, most people with celiac or gluten sensitivity should do fine with one of these two bean options, since the companies have taken steps to make certain their beans exceed legal gluten-free standards. 3 Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Falcomer AL, Santos Araújo L, Farage P, Santos Monteiro J, Yoshio Nakano E, Puppin Zandonadi R. Gluten contamination in food services and industry: A systematic review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2020;60(3):479-493. doi:10.1080/10408398.2018.1541864 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Gluten and food labeling. Gluten-Free Certification Organization. About us. By Jane Anderson Jane Anderson is a medical journalist and an expert in celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the gluten-free diet. 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