Gluten-Free Fast Food

Chik-Fil-MSG? Are you SERIOUS? They even soak their toothpicks in MSG! If you don't eat the rabbit food at Chik-Fil-A, you are getting gluten...period! I love the food at Chik-Fil-A but it's not worth the aches and pains I get afterward or the eventual IV iron infusion that follows months later.

Thanks for all this information...I have been getting fries when I am running errands and haven't had lunch. Bet this change will make a difference.

I'm a type 1 diabetic, on an insulin pump. Just found out today I have celiac disease. Most of what I've read, above, is very helpful, though worrisome. I'm sure we'll all have our moments where we thought we were getting something gluten free, but there was a crumb here, a touch there. We'll learn to live with it, life goes on. Thanks for the input, enjoy!

uh actually a person could very well die from gluten. A person with celiac disease if they get contaminated will cause severe reactions such as PAIN and will eventually lead to death due the damage if the intestines. Don't be ignorant and if you choose to live dangerously (sad for the child) do not encourage strangers to do so also.

In other words...don't eat out, if you worried about your food being contaminated. Bottom line, you never know what is gluten free unless you make yourself.

If that is the case, then why is wheat an ingredient listed when you call their nutrition line?

Maybe you're daughter isn't as sensitive as some. I'm very sensitive to gluten and even a bread crumb affects me. J. Badley is not being picky at all, people like us can die from it.

I personally won't die from a simple crumb, but I will want to. The pain and discomfort lasts for 3-5 days. My allergy is vicious!

What the hell Jordan?! You can die from it in fact. I'm 12 years old and I have horrible pain when I get my food contaminated. The fast food restaurants should look into this more and handle it better because their food handling is atrocious! They don't and people don't understand what it feels like to have this disease and I feel that if you don't have it you don't understand anything about it. So Jordan remember the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all!" And if you don't want your girl to have cancer then look into it.

Actually, about 3% of people with celiac can develop lower intestinal cancer... better safe than sorry. And, just a thought, unless you are married to the person who insists on clean gloves why do you care? Such vehement animosity for something that doesn't concern you...

I made a very big mistake. I sometimes conveniently forget that celiac disease is about being GLUTEN intolerant. Yes, it is possible that the traces of wheat in something might be so minimal that it doesn't trigger a GLUTEN reaction which makes it okay for people with celiac disease; however, if you are wheat allergic and yeast intolerant, you can get sick off fast food that has been given the thumbs up by celiacs.

Yes you can die from eating gluten. The more you eat the more damage it creates in the small intestine. It can literally eat it up. I know my nephew died last year.

Jack in the Box has a breakfast bowl, which they serve 24/7. It's basically eggs, cheese, sausage, mayonnaise, and hash browns. The questionable thing I see is that the sausage probably has caramel color in it, but other than that it looks safe.

They most certainly do add old patties to their chili, have you ever had their chili? It's pretty obvious.

you're pretty cocky and know-it-all to be posting all of this stuff to only be trumped by people who have, in fact, worked at these places and verify the way it really works. You can't really trust what people tell you when you call the corporate headquarters - some restaurants might do it one way when others do it other ways, even if they'd like to believe everyone follows the rules - when your entire staff is 16 year old kids who don't even know anything about gluten...you're bound to have cross contamination.

I think your response is quite RUDE, Jordan. I wind up with 24 hours of sickness from cross contamination and even the slightest exposure to gluten. The folks at Chipotle in particular are SO wonderful changing their gloves. Just because YOUR daughter doesn't get sick doesn't mean SOMEONE ELSE won't and doesn't. Not sure what gives you the right to judge or criticize!

Then your daughter clearly is not as sensitive as others. How about you just relax and allow others to eat their gluten free food in peace?

My mother and I both have celiac disease (mine was confirmed by endoscopy and blood test though I never felt any pain while consuming gluten); my mother has extreme reaction when eating gluten and at least the various McDonald's we go to in Arizona, have not led to any reaction. The one thing we have found is there sadly in no uniformity along the fast food lines. Cross contamination really can happen as easily as lifting a bun across a designated fryer. We eat at our own risk and there are far worse consequences for eating gluten than the obvious stomach pains (that was directed towards Jordan). Good luck to my fellow celiacs and my biggest recommendation is to eat at home. The burgers taste better, ingredients fresher, and whole foods and even many grocery stores are starting to carry great tasting buns. I've also lost a bit of weight in giving it up lol.

to Jordan (posted sept 15, 2010):

As a health care professional (pediatric RN) I can tell you that just because there are no symptoms, there is still damage being done to the intestines regardless of the amount ingested. SO just because she isn't having symptoms, you are still poisoning her body. If she had a small intestinal biopsy I'm sure they would find damage. The damage done to the intestines leads to cancer that is very difficult to detect until it has already metastasized. The inflammation that eating a food you are allergic to causes is widespread throughout the body and can further contribute to the development of cancers as well as many other autoimmune disorders (which celiac is one). Your lack of knowledge on your child's disease is appalling and your attitude about the disorder needs to change. Clearly you are very uneducated about this and you need to stop posting your opinions on boards like this, as you may influence someones decisions about their health and cause someone else to make equally harmful decisions for people in their lives. Shame on you.

Wow that is super rude -- just because your daughter's allergy is not as sensitive it does not mean everyone else is that way. -- we also ask for a glove change. It is not worth the day of pain just to avoid asking for a 30 sec change of gloves.

I guess you have never seen your child have hours of pain and diarrhea caused by just a touch of something with a gluten peptide on it like I have had to suffer from people not taking the term celiac disease so serious.

Re: Jordan -

If I were this guy, I'd go ahead and make sure the person handling his food has gluten-free spit, too.

Drama Queen? How about if I handle rat poison before preparing your food, and we'll see how you like it! Your poor daughter, she deserves better!

I have to have them change their gloves too. I am extremely sensitive to gluten, I even get the celiac rash from cross contamination as well as the intestinal discomfort. Some people are more sensitive than others, but some people are just as sensitive, but exhibit fewer external symptoms. Better safe than sorry in my opinion. I eat at Subway and have them change their gloves and use fresh knife when cutting my chicken, even sometimes they pull out fresh containers of lettuce for my salads. Yes, it's that important to be gluten free, and you know what, no fast food person has EVER complained.

Burgerville has yummy gluten free fries! Try Wendy's gluten-free chili too.