Fruit juice—which obviously is made from fruit, not grains—should be gluten-free. Juice products made from 100% fruit juice should be safe for people following the gluten-free diet to enjoy.
However, knowing which juices are safe gets trickier when you consider juice drinks, which usually contain only a small percentage of actual fruit juice, along with a long list of added ingredients. These products are more processed, which increases the risks for gluten cross-contamination.
It's rare, but fruit drinks may even include gluten-containing ingredients such as barley. It is very occasionallyused as a sweetener. Therefore, even though most fruit drinks are safe, you do need to be careful when choosing a fruit juice-based beverage.
Note that bottled orange juice is gluten-free, even if it includes added ingredients such as calcium and vitamin D.
Gluten-Free Juice Brands List
These commonly available juice products in the United States don't contain gluten or gluten ingredients, according to the manufacturers.
Dole
Dole makes numerous gluten-free juices in bottles and cans, plus frozen juice concentrates. Flavors include pineapple, orange, and mango, plus blends incorporating strawberry, papaya, banana, passion fruit, and carrot juices. According to the company, none of its juices contains gluten.
Lakewood Juices
Lakewood's organic and premium 100% fruit juices are produced and bottled in a gluten-free facility, according to the company. They're also casein-free and free of genetically modified organisms.
Minute Maid
Minute Maid, which sells various 100% fruit juices plus several lemonades and juice drinks, is made by the Coca-Cola Co. All 100% Minute Maid juice products (without added ingredients) are gluten-free.
Minute Maid Lemonade, Light Lemonade, Pomegranate Blueberry, Pomegranate Lemonade, Pomegranate Flavored Tea, and all Minute Maid frozen novelties are also considered gluten-free to less than 20 parts per million in the U.S.
Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray, which makes a reliably gluten-free cranberry sauce, also makes a wide variety of cranberry-flavored and other fruit-flavored beverages. Ocean Spray has queried its ingredient suppliers and determined that its beverages and sauces are free from gluten (some of its other products—notably, chocolate-covered Craisins—do contain gluten).
However, Ocean Spray's gluten statement adds, "if you have a particularly acute sensitivity to gluten in foods, we suggest you consult your physician for his or her recommendation."
Simply Orange
Pure juices from Simply Orange (another Coca-Cola subsidiary) are considered gluten-free in the U.S., as are the flavors:
- Simply Orange Juice Medium Pulp with Calcium
- Simply Orange with Mango
- Simply Orange with Pineapple
- Simply Apple
- Simply Grapefruit
- Simply Lemonade
- Simply Limeade
- Simply Lemonade with Raspberry
Sunkist
Sunkist, made by the Keurig Dr Pepper Group, makes carbonated beverages that some would consider sodas, while others would consider them fruit punches.
There are nine flavors of soda and four additional flavors of lemonade, including Fruit Punch, Cherry Limeade, Sparkling Lemonade, and Sunkist's original Orange soda. The Sunkist website does not list gluten under "Allergens & Sensitivities" for any of its products.
Keurig Dr. Pepper only makes one product that contains gluten: Mr. & Mrs. T's Horseradish Bloody Mary Mix.
Tropicana
An email from Tropicana's customer service department reported that all its products, "including Trop 50, are naturally gluten-free."
V8
Known for its trademark tomato-based vegetable juice, V8 is made by the Campbell Soup Company. V8 actually makes numerous different juices, including vegetable juice and pure fruit juices and blends.
The company states that none of its V8 juices contain gluten. Its green juices contain spinach (not wheatgrass, which often is found in these types of products).
Welch's Juices
This grape-centric company makes 100% fruit juices, fruit fizz, sparkling beverages, and juice co*cktail blends.
Each juice and concentrate listed on the Welch's page states that the product is gluten-free in the ingredients section.
Juice Brands to Avoid
Several brands of juice do not guarantee their gluten-free status, even if they don't contain obvious gluten ingredients.
Capri Sun
These juices and juice concentrates, mainly aimed at kids, come from a Kraft Heinz subsidiary. Kraft Heinz does not label many products gluten-free but has a stated policy of always calling out any gluten sources on its labels.
Therefore, check the label of any Capri Sun product you're considering purchasing to determine if it contains gluten ingredients or not. Remember, however, that cross-contamination in the factory due toshared facilities or equipmentstill can be an issue with Kraft Heinz products.
If you're sensitive to trace gluten, you may want to exercise caution with Capri Sun products.
Country Time Lemonade
Country Time is another Kraft subsidiary, so check the label of Country Time products to see if gluten ingredients were used. The same caveat applies with the risk of gluten cross-contamination.
FUZE
These fruit drinks with vitamins are made by the Coca-Cola Co. They had been considered gluten-free previously, but no longer appear on Coca-Cola's gluten-free list. (Note that FUZE iced tea does appear on that gluten-free list.)
IZZE
IZZE makes sparking juice, fortified juice, and sparkling soda. In response to a customer question on Amazon,the company responded, "While our company does not currently make gluten-free label claims, none of the ingredients in our products are derived from grains or flours that have been linked to malabsorption syndrome associated with gluten sensitivity."
Kool Aid
Kool Aid is yet another Kraft Heinz subsidiary, so check the labels of these rainbow-colored drinks and drink mixes to see if gluten ingredients were used to make them, and be mindful of the potential risk of cross-contamination.
R.W. Knudsen
This company makes a wide variety of higher-priced 100% juices and juice blends. According to R.W. Knudsen's Frequently Asked Questions, only two products (Spritzer sparkling beverages and Recharge Sports Beverage mixes) are considered gluten-free.
"The remainder of our products do not contain ingredients derived from gluten; however, these products do not meet our established criteria for a 'gluten-free' claim for one or more reasons," the company says.
A Word From Verywell
As you can see, people who follow the gluten-free diet because they have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity have a wide variety of choices in fruit and vegetable juices and juice blends.
Remember, though, this list applies only to products purchased in the U.S. Companies can (and frequently do) use different formulas and different facilities to produce products in other countries.
When in doubt about a particular product's gluten status, especially in a country outside the U.S., contact the manufacturer directly.
