Restaurants struggle to be gluten free
By Vanessa Wong, Bloomberg
Cooking a gluten-free meal isn’t as simple as plucking out the croutons.
Even if the ingredients are gluten-free, avoiding cross-contamination from other things in the kitchen means having separate utensils and prep areas, not to mention special training of staff—significant undertakings in restaurant environments whose employees must be reminded to wash their hands.
The problem, in other words, is the preparation.
Perhaps that’s why some chains that make most of their money from wheat-eaters have stopped short of promising that their “gluten-free” foods are actually, well, gluten-free.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, Domino’s and Noodles & Co. offer “gluten-free” options with disclaimers that they can’t guarantee a total absence of gluten.
“Even with a strict adherence toward maintaining spotless restaurants, we simply have too much wheat and other gluten-containing food products in our kitchens to be able to eliminate the cross contamination on food prep surfaces and even in the air,” warns a message on Noodles’ website.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines “gluten-free” as containing less than 20 parts per million of gluten.
Please. There’s no reason to avoid gluten unless you actually have celiac disease. And it’s not THAT common. If you don’t have it, it’s a waste of money and energy.
Another silly food fad.
The disease of the decade continues its relentless scare tactics. There are still questions whether “celiac disease” really exists. It is similar to the autistic maladies, that is without good solid science to diagnose it other than certain vague but uncomfortable symptoms being present.
People who cut gluten out of their diet experience amazing effects like reduced joint pain, better digestion and improved brain function. There is so much about diet and health that science can’t pinpoint, yet more and more people are cutting gluten out of their diet and getting healthier and stronger, and losing weight.
Many quit gluten as a switch to paleo eating, which makes complete sense from an evolutionary perspective and provides answers to many of our modern chronic maladies.