Note that all fermented products, such as beer and wine, contain natural sulfites. They can also contain added sulfites.
Here is a partial list of foods that can contain sulfites:
- Apple cider
- Apples (dried, glazed, dedydrated, canned or frozen)
- Apricots (dried, glazed or dedydrated)
- Baked goods
- Beer (Alcoholic or non-alcoholic)
- Breads
- Candy
- Canned fruits and vegetables
- Cereal
- Cheese, blue *
- Cheese, soft (some types)*
- Chocolate bars
- Cider (Alcoholic or non-alcoholic)
- Coconut (dried or dedydrated)
- Coleslaw
- Condiments
- Cookies
- Cornmeal
- Cornstarch
- Crackers
- Deli meat
- Dextrose syrup
- Dressings
- Dried fruit
- Fish
- Frozen fruits and vegetables
- Fruit bars
- Fruit filling
- Fruit juice
- Fruit syrup
- Gelatin
- Glazed fruits
- Glucose solids
- Glucose syrup
- Grape juice (regular or sparkling)
- Grapes (fresh) – safe in some contries
- Grapes (glazed)
- Gravies
- Guacamole
- Herbs (dried)
- Horseradish
- Hot Dogs
- Jams
- Jellies
- Ketchup
- Lemon juice/concentrate
- Lettuce (fresh) – safe in some contries
- Lime juice/concentrate
- Maraschino cherries
- Marmalade
- Mincemeat (dried or dedydrated)
- Molasses
- Muesli
- Mushrooms (canned or frozen)
- Mustard
- Noodles
- Olives (canned)
- Onions (pickled)
- Papaya (dried or dedydrated)
- Pastries
- Peaches (dried or dedydrated)
- Pears (dried or dedydrated)
- Peas (canned or frozen)
- Pectin
- Peppers (canned or frozen)
- Perfume*
- Pickled foods
- Pickles
- Pineapple (dried or dedydrated)
- Potato chips
- Potato starch
- Potatoes (dehydrated, frozen french fries, dehydrated, mashed, peeled, pre-cut)
- Raisins (dried or dedydrated)
- Relish
- Rice mixes
- Sauces
- Sauerkraut
- Sausages
- Shellfish
- Shrimp (fresh/frozen)
- Snack foods
- Soft drinks
- Soup mixes
- Soups
- Soy products
- Spices
- Starches
- Sugar beet starch
- Sugar syrups
- Tea
- Tomatoes (dried, sun dried, dedydrated, canned, frozen or paste/pulp/puree)
- Tortilla chips
- Trail mix
- Vegetable juices
- Vinegar, wine vinegar
- Waffles
- Water (bottled)
- White grape juice
- Wine (Alcoholic or non-alcoholic)
Please leave a comment if you notice anything that is missing
* Items marked with and asterisk have been suggested by readers by I have not personally verified them.
{ 104 comments… read them below or add one }
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Watch out for Benedryl. I went for some cos people on various websites have recomended it. I checked with the pharmacist who checked the leaflet then double checked on the phone. I took it home and read the leaflet I thought he would know that gelatine has sulphites in it. !!
Also, check with your dentists or doctors….Marcaine with epi has sulfites in it as a stabilizer.( They use it as an injection to numb the area)
Thank you so much for your informative site. I used to get covered in hives after eating grapes. I went to a specialist who told me to take an anti-histamine tablet when things got bad but this no longer seems to work. It seeems that my body can cope with a little and then after a while the build up of sulfites causes big problems. My nose and throat swell so much that I have to breath through my mouth and this is scary when you are trying to get to sleep. I guess that it is a matter of being super vigilant, reading labels and continuing to ask questions. Does anyone know about tea-bags and sulfites?
My question is What Can I Eat??? I go grocery shopping and come out with barely anything that I can safely ingest. Not eating anything is not healthy either. Super Frustrated!!!
Tina, don’t forget (and don’t be overwhelmed) that if you have a food allergy, it can be translated into what you use on your hair/skin as well. so…. L’oreal has a line of sulfite free shampoo/conditioner, check your foundation to make sure it doesn’t have sulfates (mine had magnesium sulfate in it, so started using a different one) check soaps and lotions (check out bar soaps for best chances) and Kroger (if you have one) check out their health food section for sulfite free body wash, and toothpaste. Yes, it’s a lot, but worth it. Yes, the stuff is more expensive, but within a week of using the new shampoo I hardly use any now (mine is about shoulder length and use about a dime size amount! I use a different brand but plan on changing to l’oreal).
Sit down right now and write a list of things you CAN have. You CAN have chicken, beef, lamb, (I heard pork is high in sulfites? I cant have it anyway, so… that’s off my list), dairy, organic fruits/veggies, rice, flour, you can make your own bread. Really there is a lot you CAN have, it just requires a change in how you cook. I have more than just sulfites I have to pull out of my diet, so I am WAY limited (for 3 weeks I was on just rice, potatoes, chicken, dairy, and eggs). I have an appt in 2 weeks with a GI dr to see if I have EE (Eosinophilic Esophogitis sp?) and then once the biopsy is back the dr and I will discuss “what needs to be pared out of my diet” I also have Oral allergy syndrome, so there are many fruits/veggies I cannot eat even if organic. If sulfites are your only problem, then feel blessed.
I have to have a procedure done by a heart doctor. He needs to put a scope down my throat to look at my heart:( He needs to freeze my throat and also give me a twilight anesthetic. Are these things safe! I’m scared of the preservatives in the medicine. Are there medicines that are safe for these kind of thing. I have had this done before this allergy started with on reaction but now I don’t know. Thanks!
I can’t answer your questions. If you are allergic to sulfites, then you should certainly talk to your doctor about it and also find out what anesthetics and other pharmaceuticals he uses, and then research those yourself. If you care to report back here, I’m sure others will find your results interesting and helpful.
I have found that cortizone inhalers (rinochort,nasonix, omnaris
all have sulphite which gives me an asthma attack after 3 weeks
of use. Also advair,alvesco have suphites which makes me wheese and is causing my asthma.
dos anyone know if uncle bens rice have sulphites? or butter?
DONT USE LOREAL SULFATE free line!!! Maybe you would have better luck with it than I did, but I was still allergic to it!! It has milder sulfate equivalents in it!!!!
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