Hidden Valley to tout gluten-free promise on packaging

OAKLAND, Calif. — Hidden Valley is updating the packaging on its salad dressing products to address gluten-sensitive and gluten-intolerant customers.

The company said it now will include a "gluten-free" logo to bottles and dry packets of its Original Ranch dressing, as well as much of its Farmhouse Originals product line. Packages with the new logo are slated to appear on store shelves this summer.

In addition to the packaging change, the makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings have teamed up with the Celiac Disease Foundation, to further communicate Hidden Valley's gluten-free promise and to help support the foundation's efforts to represent the needs and concerns of the celiac community and raise awareness for early diagnosis of the disease.

"What we've done is taken the added step of auditing our supply chain and securing guarantees that there are no ingredients that contain or are derived from gluten-containing grains," said Shaunte Mears-Watkins, marketing manager for the Hidden Valley brand.