Which Fast Food French Fries are Gluten-Free?

On 4/18/2023 at 1:16 PM, Guest Red Robin said:

Red Robin claims their fries are gluten free. My daughter has celiacs, I took her there for her birthday. She ordered a burger with a gluten free bun and fries. By the time we got home, she was sick in the bathroom for hours and it took just over a week for her to recover. Have not trusted Red Robin since

Wow that angers me.  That happened  to me in  established restaurants and one claimed I prob “Had the flu” and the other said “next time you come you can get a nice table by window”.  It’s very sad that managers do not accept when somebody makes a major mistake that causes us to be severely ill.  I’m so sorry for your daughter- I can relate.  Nowadays I eat salad and ask for oil and vinegar.  

Chick-fil-a has a dedicated fryer for their fries!!!

Need to double check McDonald’s fries.  I read an article where there are different ingredients in McDonald’s American fries (than the rest of the world McDonald’s fries). And that American fries contained beef flavor that contains gluten..  

We are not making a gluten-free claim on McDonald's behalf in this article--they make it on their website:
https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/which-of-your-products-are-gluten-free.html 

2 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

We are not making a gluten-free claim on McDonald's behalf in this article--they make it on their website:
https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/which-of-your-products-are-gluten-free.html 

I understand celiac/com is not making the claim.  Also note, I am making a distinction between McDonald’s french fries in America versus other countries..   I agree that we should be able to trust McDonald’s claim, but then again they cover their ass from a lawsuit by stating cross-contamination is a possibility..  And but I’ve become distrustful of gluten-free claims (NO GLUTEN ingredients for example at the supermarket).  

Here is a link, claiming American McDonald’s fries contain gluten, but I was under the impression that McDonald’s actual ingredients are a secret, which means we have to trust McDonald’s instead of third parties.  

It seems like every gluten question will have links on both sides, and I’m not fighting for one side or the other.  One thing that makes me feel more comfortable is when bona fide celiac’s say they had no reaction (hopefully someone will comment on that)..  

https://glutenbee.com/are-mcdonalds-french-fries-gluten-free/

24 minutes ago, Qrummed said:

I understand celiac/com is not making the claim.  Also note, I am making a distinction between McDonald’s french fries in America versus other countries..   I agree that we should be able to trust McDonald’s claim, but then again they cover their ass from a lawsuit by stating cross-contamination is a possibility..  And but I’ve become distrustful of gluten-free claims (NO GLUTEN ingredients for example at the supermarket).  

Here is a link, claiming American McDonald’s fries contain gluten, but I was under the impression that McDonald’s actual ingredients are a secret, which means we have to trust McDonald’s instead of third parties.  

It seems like every gluten question will have links on both sides, and I’m not fighting for one side or the other.  One thing that makes me feel more comfortable is when bona fide celiac’s say they had no reaction (hopefully someone will comment on that)..  

https://glutenbee.com/are-mcdonalds-french-fries-gluten-free/

I agree, Qrummed, with most of what you said, except the last sentence. There are "bondafide celiacs" who do not react to trace amounts of gluten, or at least not discernibly so. Two celiacs can eat the same french fries and one will get ill and the other not.

4 hours ago, Qrummed said:

I understand celiac/com is not making the claim.  Also note, I am making a distinction between McDonald’s french fries in America versus other countries..   I agree that we should be able to trust McDonald’s claim, but then again they cover their ass from a lawsuit by stating cross-contamination is a possibility..  And but I’ve become distrustful of gluten-free claims (NO GLUTEN ingredients for example at the supermarket).  

Here is a link, claiming American McDonald’s fries contain gluten, but I was under the impression that McDonald’s actual ingredients are a secret, which means we have to trust McDonald’s instead of third parties.  

It seems like every gluten question will have links on both sides, and I’m not fighting for one side or the other.  One thing that makes me feel more comfortable is when bona fide celiac’s say they had no reaction (hopefully someone will comment on that)..  

https://glutenbee.com/are-mcdonalds-french-fries-gluten-free/

For the purposes of our articles and site info, we defer to the source over any other site. I've never heard of that web site, but they offer nothing to back up their claim, where I am offering a link to McDonald's web site where they say that their fries do not contain any gluten ingredients:

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So the conclusion is that in the US, McDonald’s fries are NOT Gluten Free. Outside of the United States, McDonald’s fries do not contain wheat, but cannot be confirmed GF due to cross-contamination concerns, etc.

37 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

For the purposes of our articles and site info, we defer to the source over any other site. I've never heard of that web site, but they offer nothing to back up their claim, where I am offering a link to McDonald's web site where they say that their fries do not contain any gluten ingredients:

 

I agree in that I would like to hear from someone who has tried their supposed gluten free fries. 

23 minutes ago, Jim Chris said:

I agree in that I would like to hear from someone who has tried their supposed gluten free fries. 

Maybe Scott is correct, the best info we have is from the McDonald’s Corp.  I thought McDonald’s in other countries had different French fry recipes.  But I don’t believe McDonald’s reveals its recipe either (all I could find were copycat recipes).  

I agree with the person who pointed out people respond differently to trace amounts of gluten, but it’s still valuable to hear.  

And again, I’m referring to American McDonald’s french fries, only because I thought recipes were different.  

According to the McDonald’s website, their fries are NOT gluten free. I copied the ingredients list below from their menu information. You can see more information at the link I copied below as well. I hope this is helpful. 

French Fries

Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients. 

Contains: Wheat, Milk.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/contact-us/help-center/nutrition.html

2 hours ago, Guest Claire said:

According to the McDonald’s website, their fries are NOT gluten free. I copied the ingredients list below from their menu information. You can see more information at the link I copied below as well. I hope this is helpful. 

French Fries

Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients. 

Contains: Wheat, Milk.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/contact-us/help-center/nutrition.html

THANK YOU..  

CONTAINS WHEAT!

That’s what I thought.  I finally found the ingredients link on McDonald’s website (under the “allergin information” section).  

Shame on McDonald’s for saying they are gluten-free, when they are clearly not..  companies don’t care about gluten, because there are no lawsuits (we just suffer and die slowly, no emergency room visits)..

Although I went keto a few weeks ago and all my stomach problems cleared up..  if this keeps up, I might actually try a bite of gluten at some point (haven’t had any gluten in years, but my stomach problems did not clear up). 
 

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-fries.html#accordion-c921f9207b-item-283bee7dbd

That is a shame. In the UK, McDonalds fries are gluten-free.

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Ingredients: Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season).
Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Salt is added after cooking.
Please note our Fries can be cooked in the same oil as the Red Pepper and Pesto Goujon which contains: Yellow Split Peas, Tomato, Breadcrumb (8%) (Rice Flour, Gram Flour, Maize Flour, Amaranth Flour, Maize Starch, Teff Flour, Salt, Dried Glucose Syrup, Dextrose, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids)), Cooked Arborio Rice, Rice Flour, Sundried Tomato Pesto (7%) (Water, Sundried Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato, Salt), Tomato Paste, Red Wine Vinegar, Olive Oil (Refined Olive Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Basil, Red Onion, White Sugar, Garlic Puree, Cornflour, Black Pepper), Red Pepper (7%), Water, Sunflower Oil, Maize Starch, Onion, Rapeseed Oil, Maize Flour, Basil, Garlic Puree, Salt, Black Pepper, Thickener (Xanthan Gum).