What is Wheat Gluten?
Wheat gluten is basically the same as wheat protein. It’s a mixture of two different proteins, gliadin and glutenin. When the flour of wheat is washed to remove the starch, what’s left over is gluten. Gluten gives dough its tough and elastic character. Wheat gluten is not typically associated with food contamination and has been used safely in pet foods for decades. One use of wheat gluten is to bind ingredients and help form cutlet shapes in wet-style and cuts-and-gravy-type pet foods. It is also used to help thicken pet food “gravy.” Wheat gluten also has uses in human food products as a stabilizer or thickener.
