Kirkland Gluten-Free Report [I Tested 8 Costco Products for Gluten]

This post about Kirkland gluten-free products contains affiliate link. Nima Sensor sponsored this post.

If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time shopping at Costco. A lot of time!

I personally find that Costco has so much to offer someone following a healthy and gluten-free diet.

For starters, Costco has a wonderful selection of fresh produce – much of its produce is organic too, which is a bonus.

I also find that Costco has a great selection of meats (including organic ground beef, organic ground turkey and organic chicken breasts and thighs). You can also find  a lot of gluten-free products at Costco – many that I find myself buying often, such as Milton’s Gluten-Free Crackers and Lotus Foods Rice Ramen.

I keep track of all the fantastic gluten-free finds at Costco in this article about gluten-free products found at Costco. (Please bookmark this post and check back often for new gluten-free finds at Costco!)

What is Kirkland Brand?

I find myself buying not only a lot of name brand products at Costco, but also I buy a lot of Costco’s privately-labeled Kirkland Signature brand products. These products are just as good (and often better than the name brands), and Kirkland products, more often than not, are more reasonably priced than their name brand counterparts.

Some Kirkland products are certified gluten-free or marked “gluten-free,” while some appear to be gluten-free (because they do not contain ingredients that set off my internal gluten detector) but they are not labeled “gluten-free.” For example, I buy Kirkland brand garlic powder and Kirkland brand chocolate chips. Neither product is labeled “gluten-free” but neither contain wheat, barley, rye or a derivative of these ingredients.

What is the Nima Sensor?

I approached my friends at Nima Sensor and asked if they would like to partner with me on a post where I use my Nima Sensor to test some of my favorite Kirkland products for gluten. They agreed, so I put together the following Kirkland Gluten-Free Report (scroll down to see the results)!

In case you’re not familiar with the Nima Sensor, it’s a nifty gadget you can use to test your food for gluten. You simply insert a pea-sized amount of your food into a one-time capsule, then insert the capsule in the sensor and wait about three minutes for a result. Nima will reveal a smiley face if it doesn’t find gluten, and a wheat symbol if it finds gluten.

Of course, you must keep in mind that you’re only testing a small portion of your food. While the Nima Sensor test can give you a good sense about whether or not the product contains gluten, it does not always account for cross contamination that is present on shared manufacturing lines and in restaurants and may be present in a different portion of your food. That’s why the Nima Sensor should be just one of the many factors you consider before deciding if a product is safe, particularly if the product is not certified gluten-free.

To decipher if a product is gluten-free, always consider the following factors:

• Read food labels (and take the time to understand the labels).  Gluten is not always easy to detect (gluten goes by many names and hides in many surprising foods). If a product is “certified GF” it is generally okay to eat and contains less than 10 ppm of gluten. If a product is simply labeled “gluten-free,” it may contain up to 20 ppm of gluten per FDA guidelines. If a product contains no gluten but isn’t marked either way, it means the manufacturer might be using a shared manufacturing line, or didn’t want to pay for the testing or certification. It may or may not contain gluten. Look for allergen disclosure statements, but do not stop your research there (wheat is an allergen that must be disclosed, but barley is not, for example.)
• Use resources available to you. You can use your gluten-free apps to check if the food is gluten-free, and/or visit or contact manufacturer websites.
• Use your Nima Sensor to check. If you’ve ruled out gluten in the ingredient list, and checked the product for gluten using the resources available to you, you can also check the product yourself using your Nima Sensor. Remember, the Nima Sensor finds ALL gluten. Keep in mind that a product labeled “gluten-free” may still contain gluten. For example, if a product contains 15 ppm of gluten (which is less than 20 ppm regulated by the FDA) it is technically “gluten-free” under FDA laws. (I have zero tolerance for gluten, so I don’t want to eat something that contains even just 15 ppm of gluten. No thanks! That’s why the Nima Sensor is so handy to me!)

All this information, taken in combination, can help you decode whether a product is indeed gluten-free and safe for you to eat.

Kirkland Gluten-Free Report

OK, I’ve tortured you long enough and now want to share with you the results of my Kirkland Gluten-Free report. I used my Nima Sensor to test eight popular Costco-Kirkland brand products. A smiley face on the Nima Sensor means the item tested gluten-free (It shows a “Gluten Found” message if it finds gluten).

(1) Kirkland Organic Salsa (Medium)

(2) Kirkland Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

(3) Kirkland Milk Chocolate Raisins

(4) Kirkland Granulated California Garlic

(5) Kirkland Organic Tortilla Chips

(6) Kirkland Organic Chicken Stock

(7) Kirkland Almonds

(8) Kirkland Basil Pesto

These eight Kirkland gluten-free products are ones I find myself buying often, so naturally they are products I’m most curious about. I have a feeling you are using one or more of these products in your gluten-free kitchen as well (who doesn’t use Costco garlic powder?!?)

Additional Gluten-Free Testing at Costco

My friends at Nima Sensor have tested an additional eight Kirkland brand products for gluten, and they have published their results in a report you can download for $10 from the Nima Sensor website. There are NO duplicates in our reports as we tested different Kirkland brand products for gluten.

If you’d like to purchase a Nima Sensor of your own, click on my affiliate link – Nima Sensor – and put in the code GOODFORYOU18 for $15 off a Nima Sensor Starter Kit. Yay!

Additional Reads & Resources

• Gluten-Free Products Available at Costco
• What You Need to Know About the Nima Sensor