Cross contamination

[Johnny55400]

I have been recently diagnosticated with Celiac. I do not have any symptoms, and I am kind of skeptical. Yet, I decided to trust the blood test and biopsy conclusions and start the gluten free diet.

What does cross contamination exactly mean? Obviously cross contamination is a serious concern for people affected with the presence of little gluten that make them sick. If you don’t get sick when exposed to cross contamination, is it still an issue and will damage your little intestine even though you do not ingest gluten? If you prefer: does cross contamination exposure a problem because you may be sick or because it is going to cause intestinal damage? Or both… 

[Ennis-TX]

4 minutes ago, Johnny55400 said:

If you prefer: does cross contamination exposure a problem because you may be sick or because it is going to cause intestinal damage? Or both… 

Both, any time the tiniest amount of gluten residue or crumb goes through your intestines it will trigger a antibody reaction and your immune system will wreak havoc on your body, this reaction can go on for weeks-months of ongoing damage weather you notice it or not. And over time can lead to nutrient deficiency, allergies, complications, other auto immune disease, and even cancer.

Cross contamination can happen from touching gluten food then your food, touching a door handle someone that was just eating a doughnut touched then you touch it then touch your mouth or food your going to eat without washing it off. Cutting boards with gluten crumbs, wooden spoons with gluten embedded in the fibers, scratched pots/pans that might contain gluten in the scratches and not wash off.

Cross contamination is common in restaurants due to cooking utensils, poorly cleaned plates, people handling your food, shared pots, pans, spices, etc.
Cross contamination in a packing facility for food, example of a current one, company makes a sauced vegetable frozen product with wheat in it, they use the same packing machine but stop the line, hose it down then start the plain veggies through it....the plain veggies are going to have chances of containing gluten. This can happen with snack mixes, dried foods, flours etc. This is why many of us avoid stuff in a shared facility.
Condiment jars and butter containers can get crumbs in them from people sticking spoons back in them

[Johnny55400]

So it is impossible to be 100% sure that you have not been exposed. The only sign that you have been exposed is when you get sick. Scary!

[Ennis-TX]

3 minutes ago, Johnny55400 said:

So it is impossible to be 100% sure that you have not been exposed. The only sign that you have been exposed is when you get sick. Scary!

You look for food that are certified gluten free, as in they tested it below 20ppm to ensure it is safe, you also learn certain brands to trust, and as always whole foods are safe. A apple is a apple, a banana comes with a safe built in wrapper, eggs do not contain gluten...you learn other things and brand to trust.

You learn to wash your hands before handling food, and right after getting in the house, rinse off fresh produce before eating it, and not eating out except at places you trust and have measures in place for celaic with this diet....or eat a gluten free only restaurants.

IF you suspect your stilling getting CCed constantly you can go get the blood test again and see where your antibody numbers are, in those of us with them this can be a indicator of still being constantly exposed and damage being done. Due to the time it takes for antibodies to build up in the intestines and get to the blood stream it is not very effective at detecting the occasional CC. They are working on some new methods for seeing if your adhere to the diet with mixed results.

For testing food...like processed food you want to be sure is gluten free, they have testers like NIMA Tester that can detect gluten in food. They also have enzymes that can break down "SOME" of the gluten and would be great if you suspect CCed food....not a miracle pill but I did notice it reduced my symptoms of my last CC and I had none of my normally lingering effects.

[Johnny55400]

Thanks. Very informative.