About Celiac Safe

A scan looks the barcode up in public product databases (OpenFoodFacts, USDA FoodData Central), official retailer and manufacturer data (Kroger, SmartLabel manufacturer labels, Whole Foods, store-brand sites), gluten-free certification directories (GFCO, Celiac Canada), and FDA recalls for undeclared gluten.

It then checks the label the same way you would: a certification or gluten-free claim, declared wheat or gluten, gluten grains and malt in the ingredients, oats, and "may contain" warnings. Every check is shown, so you can see why it said what it said.

It reads the whole ingredient list, not just the "Contains" line: US law requires wheat to be declared, but not barley, rye or malt, and meat, poultry and medicine labels need not say where a "starch" comes from. When a starch source is not stated on those, the result says so.

If nobody has the product yet, you can photograph the ingredients panel. The photo is read automatically and shared with OpenFoodFacts, so the next person who scans it gets an answer.

• Certified: an independent program (GFCO, Celiac Canada) certifies it. The strongest assurance.
• Labeled gluten-free: the maker claims it on the label. In the US that is a legal claim of under 20 ppm.
• No gluten ingredient, no claim: nothing on the label names gluten, but nobody promises it, so cross-contact is unknown.
• Caution: a "may contain" warning, uncertified oats, a recall that may apply, or a gluten-free claim that contradicts the ingredients.
• Unsafe: the label names wheat, barley, rye, malt or gluten.
• Not enough to say: we could not find a trustworthy ingredient list.

Everyone draws the line differently on "may contain", oats and shared facilities. The Settings link on the home screen lets you choose; results changed by your settings say so.

• It only knows what is printed on labels and in databases. Recipes change, and a database can lag behind the package in your hand.
• Some answers come from a retailer listing matched by name, not barcode. Those say so, and are the most likely to be wrong: check them.
• Answers read from a photo by text recognition say so too. Blurry or partial photos are refused rather than guessed at.
• In the US, "may contain" statements are voluntary. No warning does not mean no cross-contact.
• New products, seasonal items, Costco and Trader Joe's store brands are often missing. A photo fills the gap.
• It reads labels in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. Other languages are shown as "not enough to say" rather than guessed at.
• It is not medical advice. When it matters, read the package and ask the manufacturer.

We test it the hard way: research agents that are kept separate from the app look for products that are easy to get wrong (a corn tortilla that also contains wheat, oats with no gluten-free claim, a certified product with a "may contain" line), find the real label on the maker's site or in a certification directory, and a second agent checks each one before we compare it with our answer. In September 2026, on 237 such products the app had not seen before, it matched the label on 202 (85%).

Of the 35 misses:

• 12 undersold a gluten-free product: a claim or certification we did not find.
• 5 showed a gluten-free claim that the current label does not make.
• 5 missed a "may contain" line or uncertified oats, so the answer was safe instead of caution.
• 9 were more cautious than the label, 8 of them saying "contains gluten" when it does not.
• 3 had no answer.
• 1 called a product safe that contains wheat: a database had a years-old recipe.

We fix each miss we find, and every answer shows where its data came from so you can check it.

What that means for you: a "contains gluten" answer is rarely wrong, and when it is, it errs on the side of caution. A safe answer means we read a label, but databases can lag behind the package, so glance at the ingredients on the box, especially for a product you have not bought before.

• No account, no tracking of who you are.
• When a scan finds nothing, the barcode (only the barcode) is logged so we know which products to add.
• "Something wrong?" reports send the barcode and the reason you picked, nothing else.
• Label photos you take are uploaded to OpenFoodFacts, a public database, under Celiac Safe's account.
• Your strictness settings stay on your phone.

Use "Something wrong with this result?" under any result, or contact us. Every report is read.