<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Don Kasarda has stated categorically, on a number of occasions, that
vinegar cannot contain gluten or the peptides from gluten which could
cause problems. I agree with him completely but with one little proviso.

Originally, as the name implies, vinegar was prepared from wine which had
gone off (vin aigre) and it still is in continental Europe. Unless some
fiend has added gluten to it, this must be gluten free. In the UK and I
believe in North America, vinegar is largely prepared from synthetic
acetic acid - no gluten there. Of course, it may have been derived from
alcohol which has been distilled from fermented barley but it is not
possible for gluten (or peptide products) to distil in this way. Peptides
and gluten are definitely not volatile and so will not be present in the
vinegar.

Now comes the proviso. This distilled vinegar would be colourless (White
vinegar) but consumers prefer a brown product. The most likely source of
the brown colouration is caramel aka burned sugar. It is possible that
the sugars have been derived from malt but there are very much cheaper
sources and, in any case, they should not contain gluten products.

If anyone suspects a problem with vinegar, use vinegar from wine or apple
cider or white vinegar.

I am, therefore, agreeing completely with Don Kasarda's assertions.

At the same time, I believe the list-members who have had a problem with
vinegar. I would suspect that where this does occur the mechanisms do not
involve a straight gluten reaction.

Paul Shattock, School of Pharmacy, University of Sunderland, England.