Mcdonalds Fries Not Gluten Free

[pnltbox27]

i was looking at the mcdonalds web site tonight and according to the site updated as of 03-13-07they are listing wheat as an ingrediant in fries. what a bummer , that was one of the first things i checked in feb when i was diagnosed and was told the fries were gluten-free.oh well back to the drawing board

[gfp]

i was looking at the mcdonalds web site tonight and according to the site updated as of 03-13-07they are listing wheat as an ingrediant in fries. what a bummer , that was one of the first things i checked in feb when i was diagnosed and was told the fries were gluten-free.oh well back to the drawing board

You want talking down... no problem...

Do a google search on McDonalds and court cases....

McDonalds lie about anything they can... you can find 100 court cases where they have presented misleading evidence or simply lied... some of the stuff they have said isn't even believeable such as the president for McDo Japan saying if Japanese people ate more McDonalds they would be taller and their skin less yellow.... or introducing "healthy options" which have more calories with dressing than a 1/4 lber... look up their declarations about it not containing beef to the hindu community? So they got fined (well donated) but will that stop them doing it again? I doubt it the fine probably wasn't even noticed in their year end tax returns... indeed they probably counted it as a charitable donation and claimed against tax on it...

Is everything said about them true? Of course not.... but enough of it is that I don't trust them.

Regardless of what they say .... I am not going to trust them as a company... its really that simple.

Even if you did trust them... corss contamination is almost guaranteed if you eat there often.... You hear about burgers being scooped off the floor and the 15 sec rule... personally i wouldn't care if it were not that the floor is full of gluten... I'm not that paranoid about a few bacteria...

[darlindeb25]

Do a google search on McDonalds and court cases....

McDonalds lie about anything they can... you can find 100 court cases where they have presented misleading evidence or simply lied...

This can be said about any huge company including the one everyone thinks they can trust--Kraft.

I feel the opposite about McDonalds, they have always came forward after an attack on them. I feel the fries are safe, I ate them until I couldn't have potatoes anymore--my sister still eats them. If I was a company under controversity such as they have been, I would "cover my ass" too.

I asked about gluten free vitamins--Puritan's Pride--a worker there got online and verified the vitamin is gluten free. Yet, while I was waiting for her to get the info, I was reading the ingredients again, which I might add, was a exceptionally long list and I found barley grass. Puritan's Pride stood behind their product saying they did not feel the barley grass constituted enough gluten to be considered gluten. Not up to them to determine that for me--do not say it is gluten free if it isn't.

I feel it is a personal judgment call. Many celiac's have no problem whatsoever with McD fries.

[gfp]

Do a google search on McDonalds and court cases....

McDonalds lie about anything they can... you can find 100 court cases where they have presented misleading evidence or simply lied...

This can be said about any huge company including the one everyone thinks they can trust--Kraft.

I feel the opposite about McDonalds, they have always came forward after an attack on them. I feel the fries are safe, I ate them until I couldn't have potatoes anymore--my sister still eats them. If I was a company under controversity such as they have been, I would "cover my ass" too.

I asked about gluten free vitamins--Puritan's Pride--a worker there got online and verified the vitamin is gluten free. Yet, while I was waiting for her to get the info, I was reading the ingredients again, which I might add, was a exceptionally long list and I found barley grass. Puritan's Pride stood behind their product saying they did not feel the barley grass constituted enough gluten to be considered gluten. Not up to them to determine that for me--do not say it is gluten free if it isn't.

I feel it is a personal judgment call. Many celiac's have no problem whatsoever with McD fries.

deb, that is the bottom line....

I agree not everything said about McDo's is actually true.... however enough of it is from my viewpoint to put them in the I don't trust them bracket. The declaration of the "no beef" for instance is well documented and while I agree we have to be careful about "urban legends" (we have little anough choice as it is) ... also the McDonalds fries DID test positive for gluten... (on the second more sensitive {RAST} test) ....

I support your statement

Not up to them to determine that for me--do not say it is gluten free if it isn't.

110% ... it should be up to us to decide what risks we take, I personally believe that frequent very small amouints can be as bad or worse as infrequent large amounts... BUT that's my belief... unfortunately its one we will probably have to wait on confirmation either way....

In the meantime I think you and I and everyone has the basic right to decide what they consider gluten-free. I would be exactly the same as you over barley grass... including feeling angry...

However anyone trusting Kraft really want to look into the company... My feeling is you can trust them while its convenient for them to tell the truth... however the same company also declared in court on many occaisions that there was "no conclusive evidence linking tobacco smoking to cancer" same company so to me same tactics....

Sometimes companies do change.... but I prefer to wait for good evidence before risking my health....

I think overall Kraft will tell us what we want to hear... and on occaision it will be true and on occaison it will be bending the truth.

The "never knowingly" to me sounds like a cop-out.... you can take it both ways...

You cvould expect they are making all reasonable efforts to find out and say so OR you can think they are actually making an effort at deniability ... that they deliberatly adopt a don't ask, don't tell policy.

Company history seems to suggest (to me) the latter, this is what they did over tobacco, their number one product ...executives tried not to read reports then they could say "I have seen no report that ...." what transpired in court is they had teams of lawyers and assistant to pour over the reports and screen the ones they shouldn't see to prevent purgering themselves.

The company may have changed... but I doubt it, their corporate web site still tries to dismiss "smoking myths" .. they didn't IMHO suddenly say "hey we gotta change and be honest" they just got sneakier and better at cover your ass.

In the end its whatever people feel happy with... but at the same time even forgetting other issues CC is a huge factor in McDo's or any fast food outlet....

[chocolatelover]

I mentioned this to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago. Her daughter was dx'd a long time ago (I'm still a relative newbie at this). I was very alarmed because I know they go there and that her daughter always gets the fries. She said that it was a huge deal last year, but in the end the GIG (gluten intolerance group) feels that McDonald's is still a safe place for celiacs to eat. I personally will stay away from them, but she swears that her extremely sensitive daughter does not react.

The following is a website that discusses it:

Open Original Shared Link

In the end I think it has to be a personal decision for everyone what they eat and don't eat. I think that if you have been eating them all along and are not reacting, then they are probably ok for you. Just one opinion.

[gfp]

I mentioned this to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago. Her daughter was dx'd a long time ago (I'm still a relative newbie at this). I was very alarmed because I know they go there and that her daughter always gets the fries. She said that it was a huge deal last year, but in the end the GIG (gluten intolerance group) feels that McDonald's is still a safe place for celiacs to eat. I personally will stay away from them, but she swears that her extremely sensitive daughter does not react.

The following is a website that discusses it:

Open Original Shared Link

In the end I think it has to be a personal decision for everyone what they eat and don't eat. I think that if you have been eating them all along and are not reacting, then they are probably ok for you. Just one opinion.

This isn't really arguing, its just a different perspective....

Coming from the UK (originaly) the UK adopted the CODEX 200ppm standard ... At first I thought it was OK and they wouldn't have adopted it if not... we all perceive what we want ... but it wasn't until I went 100% gluten-free that I actually noticed I did react...

Largely, I got tired of over priced bread that tasted like plastic (back then anything half decent seemed impossible)...

In summary after going 100% gluten-free I found myself more sensitive... at one point I thought I was paranoid because I had a list of meds and stuff that I reacted to ... but what convinced me was after new labelling laws I found my list was 100% correct, everytime I had a "I think that makes me ill" it is now labelled as contains gluten or may contain gluten etc.

Back in the UK many many people still eat CODEX bread and mostly swear they don't get symptoms.... I honestly think they are kidding themselves... because I know from here that many of us do, we just don't realise it because we are always that bit off. On top of that most peple on UK sites have IBS as well as celiac... hmmm.. I wonder if they blame IBS when they think they have been gluten-free?

If you ate the fries every couple of days it could be just enough to desensitize you but it could still be doing harm... it might not be but I really don't think anyone knows...

[larry mac]

I'll bet if McDonalds had a separate room for the french fry fryer, used pure oil with no additives, and had a special employee that did nothing but cut up real potatoes and fry them right in front of your eyes, some celiacs (and others with food intolerances) would still claim the fries made them sick. There's an infinite variety of scenarios, real and imagined, our sick celiac minds can come up with to think food is not gluten-free. We should have a contest, that would be fun.

I'm not promoting or defending McDonalds, if you've read my posts I've said many times I've never even liked them that much (although I have eaten there countless times in my life). I agree with those that say if you want to risk the CC at fast food places, ya better be ready to pay the piper. Plus, greasy food from fast food places is not the best choice for a villi damaged intestine.

It's entirely possible that companies are putting wheat ingredients in their products simply to avoid such controversies. If it clearly states "contains wheat", or malted barley etc., the whole issue is moot. Look at Corn Pops, one of my very favorite cereals. Way far down the list of ingredients (which by weight would equal a very,very small amount) is wheat flour. With just the addition of that tiny amount, they have completely avoided the possibility of anyone claiming they got sick from eating them. Call me a paranoid, conspiracy theory wacko, I don't care. Something's going on!

best regards, lm

[Mango04]

I just did a really quick search for "McDonald's" and counted 34 threads that contain this exact same argument. I only searched the "Gluten-Free Restaurants" forum and stopped counting after browsing a few pages. Everyone's free to draw their own conclusions (about the fries, about McDonald's, about McDonald's impact on our society and about why this is such an extensively debated subject here ) I personally find it perplexing...

[darlindeb25]

I'll bet if McDonalds had a separate room for the french fry fryer, used pure oil with no additives, and had a special employee that did nothing but cut up real potatoes and fry them right in front of your eyes, some celiacs (and others with food intolerances) would still claim the fries made them sick. There's an infinite variety of scenarios, real and imagined, our sick celiac minds can come up with to think food is not gluten-free. We should have a contest, that would be fun.

Gotta love ya Larry--you are so very right!!!!!

[Viola 1]

Really .. the only way to stay 100% gluten free is to 'live alone, or marry another celiac' grow your own produce, "shoot your own meat and butcher it" and never go out, or have anyone that comes to visit that isn't celiac. Even shopping in the grocery store ... any grocery store, could have flour dust on many products that are naturally gluten free that are stocked anywhere near the "baking sections" or bakery sections. Do you wash off your packages when you get them home, and remember to never have your hands near your mouth when out? I don't either but there are lots of times that I can't trace where I got the gluten from, and it could easily come from a package of chocolate chips, or what ever I picked up in the baking section.

We are "social" beings and need to see other humans at some time. There are risks with that, every where, not just fast food places. We pick on Mac Donald's because they are soooooooo easy to pick on. I probably get glutened more often here at home with hubby's stuff, or at my parents place than I ever have at a restaurant.

No matter how careful you are, what you do not see will get you! Bread crumbs near the coffee cannister, or the sugar bowl or........... add anything you can think of ... That just happens to be the life of a Celiac in a Gluten world.

We can only do our best, do our research and choose what is best for us in any given situation.

[Lisa]

Really .. the only way to stay 100% gluten free is to 'live alone, or marry another celiac' grow your own produce, "shoot your own meat and butcher it" and never go out, or have anyone that comes to visit that isn't celiac. Even shopping in the grocery store ... any grocery store, could have flour dust on many products that are naturally gluten free that are stocked anywhere near the "baking sections" or bakery sections. Do you wash off your packages when you get them home, and remember to never have your hands near your mouth when out? I don't either but there are lots of times that I can't trace where I got the gluten from, and it could easily come from a package of chocolate chips, or what ever I picked up in the baking section.

We are "social" beings and need to see other humans at some time. There are risks with that, every where, not just fast food places. We pick on Mac Donald's because they are soooooooo easy to pick on. I probably get glutened more often here at home with hubby's stuff, or at my parents place than I ever have at a restaurant.

No matter how careful you are, what you do not see will get you! Bread crumbs near the coffee cannister, or the sugar bowl or........... add anything you can think of ... That just happens to be the life of a Celiac in a Gluten world.

We can only do our best, do our research and choose what is best for us in any given situation.

Hear, hear for you Shirley..."do your research and choose what is best for us", that's the bottom line.

There are many, many posts about about McD's fries. For those that are interested, do a site check.

[lovegrov]

"You hear about burgers being scooped off the floor and the 15 sec rule..."

What in the heck are you talking about???

"However anyone trusting Kraft really want to look into the company... My feeling is you can trust them while its convenient for them to tell the truth..."

Can you provide any evidence Kraft has been lying to us about gluten?

richard

[blueeyedmanda]

Really .. the only way to stay 100% gluten free is to 'live alone, or marry another celiac' grow your own produce, "shoot your own meat and butcher it" and never go out, or have anyone that comes to visit that isn't celiac. Even shopping in the grocery store ... any grocery store, could have flour dust on many products that are naturally gluten free that are stocked anywhere near the "baking sections" or bakery sections. Do you wash off your packages when you get them home, and remember to never have your hands near your mouth when out? I don't either but there are lots of times that I can't trace where I got the gluten from, and it could easily come from a package of chocolate chips, or what ever I picked up in the baking section.

We are "social" beings and need to see other humans at some time. There are risks with that, every where, not just fast food places. We pick on Mac Donald's because they are soooooooo easy to pick on. I probably get glutened more often here at home with hubby's stuff, or at my parents place than I ever have at a restaurant.

No matter how careful you are, what you do not see will get you! Bread crumbs near the coffee cannister, or the sugar bowl or........... add anything you can think of ... That just happens to be the life of a Celiac in a Gluten world.

We can only do our best, do our research and choose what is best for us in any given situation.

I think this very well said!

[gfp]

"You hear about burgers being scooped off the floor and the 15 sec rule..."

What in the heck are you talking about???

Most fast food places have a rule about dropped food, not just McDo's and its if its dropped but not long enough to get cold you just brush it off and package it... its not like its an official rule its just one of those things where pressure of keeping with minimum turnaroud pushes people...

I have a friend worked in a big supermarket chain and they had similar metrics on turnaround... the head office sets rules like the average time per customer should be xx and leaves it up to the stores/individuals to work out how...

As she told me the easiest way is if you scan something twice by mistake its best to just keep going... when she moved from Wisconscin to Florida she got a job with a different chain and they had a complately different attitiude she found far more pleasant.... Its just the rush of modern life and maximising profit that drives this, its no evil plan...

"However anyone trusting Kraft really want to look into the company... My feeling is you can trust them while its convenient for them to tell the truth..."

Can you provide any evidence Kraft has been lying to us about gluten?

richard

Richard, the point is noone has taken them to court over this .... however many took them to court over tobacco.

If you wanted you could phone them up and ask the relevant questions.... which are the ones which are brought up by the "never knowingly hide gluten"statement. I would personally ask what they demand of their suppliers in terms of gluten testing...

and what testing they themselves do.

The real point is taking the statement literally, which is what a court will do...

"never knowingly hide gluten" so you could get some Kraft food, pay to have it tested and find gluten and at the end they are legally in the clear so long as they can say "we didn't know" ....

The bottom line for me is this is the same company that lied about tobacco for 50 yrs consistently... I don't see any point posting pages of court transcripts but its all on public record.

It is also one of the top 3 food manufacturers ... and they lead the food industry lobbies and meetings...

A while ago I foiund and posted the minutes of these meetings where the possibility of marketing seemingly healthy foods was discussed.. If you search the board you should find the exact wording... but the meaning of the wording was that there was a market for food that was perceived to be healthy and whether is is healthy or just perceived to be people will buy into that market if its perceived to be healthy.... the meeting went on into branding strategy etc. whereby they relable the same produce with some "health" type marketing...

The bottom line for me is the company lied about tobacco (proven in court) and if anyone wants to dig I'm sure about lots of other stuff... I don't mean just redirection or subtle misleading I mean out and out lying in court and in front of congressional comittees...

To me it beggars belief that they suddenly changed tac and became completely honest... this is company culture not something they can change with the flick of a switch...

[lovegrov]

Kraft is now owned by one of the companies that lied about tobacco, but back in the days when most of the lying was going on, Kraft was not connected to tobacco.

Three points to consider in defense of Kraft:

1) Kraft starfted its gluten policy years ago. It was the first major company to do so and without any pressure from anybody to do it. It was voluntary and it remains their policy even when other large companies, like Hershey and Conagra, are retreating and saying they will now list just wheat, not all gluten.

2) One way I judge companies is by the buzz among people with celiac. Frito-Lay tells you if its products are supposed to be gluten-free but we hear lots about people whu have been contaminated. Same with fast food places. I rarely ever hear complaints about Kraft products.

3) Comparing the tobacco and gluten situations is not logical. The tobacco comapnies lied about tobacco partly because they knew they were killing people and that doesn't look too good. But mostly they were lying because they made tons of cash from the product. They figured that even when they got caught, they would come out ahead financially. They were right.

Kraft, OTOH, is marketing their gluten policy to no more than a few hundred thousand people and maybe not even that many (I'm talking about the U.S. only). There might possibly be 2 million celiacs in the U.S. but the vast majority have not been diagnosed. Lying to us and then getting sued when they get caught doesn't make financial sense.

richard

[gfp]

Kraft is now owned by one of the companies that lied about tobacco, but back in the days when most of the lying was going on, Kraft was not connected to tobacco.

Three points to consider in defense of Kraft:

1) Kraft starfted its gluten policy years ago. It was the first major company to do so and without any pressure from anybody to do it. It was voluntary and it remains their policy even when other large companies, like Hershey and Conagra, are retreating and saying they will now list just wheat, not all gluten.

2) One way I judge companies is by the buzz among people with celiac. Frito-Lay tells you if its products are supposed to be gluten-free but we hear lots about people whu have been contaminated. Same with fast food places. I rarely ever hear complaints about Kraft products.

3) Comparing the tobacco and gluten situations is not logical. The tobacco comapnies lied about tobacco partly because they knew they were killing people and that doesn't look too good. But mostly they were lying because they made tons of cash from the product. They figured that even when they got caught, they would come out ahead financially. They were right.

Kraft, OTOH, is marketing their gluten policy to no more than a few hundred thousand people and maybe not even that many (I'm talking about the U.S. only). There might possibly be 2 million celiacs in the U.S. but the vast majority have not been diagnosed. Lying to us and then getting sued when they get caught doesn't make financial sense.

richard

Richard, Im not familiar with when they started the Gluten policy but they were aquired by Phillip Morris in 1985 ...(according to their website Open Original Shared Link

However they were already part of Nabisco ... in the way these companies arte all tied together and as I remember Nabisco was already owned by a different tobacco company anyway..... but I don't really think it matters that much....

Largely because of what you said

They figured that even when they got caught, they would come out ahead financially. They were right.

I agree 200%... by which I mean this was very much the over riding concern...

What I think is partly influenced by my professional life in other sectors but my experience is that when you lie for the company you tend to get promoted ... and that the fall guys are piad off rather well and moved into a different subsidiary. To a large extent because they will then be presenting to different regualtory bodies and sub-comittees etc.

I find the best arguament is as you say the reaction of the community here... but you also have to balance that and people just wanting to beleive and equally as DarlingDeb said

I'll bet if McDonalds had a separate room for the french fry fryer, used pure oil with no additives, and had a special employee that did nothing but cut up real potatoes and fry them right in front of your eyes, some celiacs (and others with food intolerances) would still claim the fries made them sick. There's an infinite variety of scenarios, real and imagined, our sick celiac minds can come up with to think food is not gluten-free. We should have a contest, that would be fun.

Basically its a bit of everything.... we can over react, be over trusting and self convincing and the reverse...

What I'd be interested to see is for someone going from a 100% gluten-free diet... or as close as Viola's post as possible then trying different Kraft (and other brand foods)... or some independent lab testing hundreds...

My problem is the statement itself is a cop out clause... the word knowingly is too vague when you know that the company has a huge legal team ... it doesn't mention testing or how they do this it just says "never knowingly hide gluten" hence it doesn't cover CC or suppliers not writing contains gluten in big letters...

What I sorta feel is they probably do make an effort but only when its convenient so relying on them for foods you consume regualrly might be a risky thing (or not)... the most important thing IMHO would be people regard them as possibly suspicious and then make their own decisions... but at least take the history of the company into consideration.

[Viola 1]

I think the only history that one can rely on is one's own history with a product. I do not eat Lays because I have had problems with them.

I do eat many Kraft products and have never had a problem with one yet. That's not to say that the time won't come when I do react to something with their name on it, but my own history tells me that Kraft does a good job of keeping their products gluten free.

I'm really not interested in their connection with the tobacco companies. Every store that ever sold tobacco can be tied in with that one. The fact is ... I chose to smoke when I did smoke, and chose to quit when it got to the point where it was too expensive (22 years ago) and I was having problems smelling and breathing.

Everyone ... and I do mean everyone that can read and watch TV knows that smoking is bad for you, yet many continue to do so. Obviously Knowing that smoking KILLS isn't changing habits, just as many continue to use illegal drugs.

Again the bottom line is do your homework and do what is best for you! For me Kraft is at this point, very much trusted!

[jerseyangel]

I think the only history that one can rely on is one's own history with a product. I do not eat Lays because I have had problems with them.

I do eat many Kraft products and have never had a problem with one yet. That's not to say that the time won't come when I do react to something with their name on it, but my own history tells me that Kraft does a good job of keeping their products gluten free.

I'm really not interested in their connection with the tobacco companies. Every store that ever sold tobacco can be tied in with that one. The fact is ... I chose to smoke when I did smoke, and chose to quit when it got to the point where it was too expensive (22 years ago) and I was having problems smelling and breathing.

Everyone ... and I do mean everyone that can read and watch TV knows that smoking is bad for you, yet many continue to do so. Obviously Knowing that smoking KILLS isn't changing habits, just as many continue to use illegal drugs.

Again the bottom line is do your homework and do what is best for you! For me Kraft is at this point, very much trusted!

I agree with absolutely everything Shirley said. Couldn't have said it better myself!

[Suezboss]

It's entirely possible that companies are putting wheat ingredients in their products simply to avoid such controversies. If it clearly states "contains wheat", or malted barley etc., the whole issue is moot. Look at Corn Pops, one of my very favorite cereals. Way far down the list of ingredients (which by weight would equal a very,very small amount) is wheat flour. With just the addition of that tiny amount, they have completely avoided the possibility of anyone claiming they got sick from eating them. Call me a paranoid, conspiracy theory wacko, I don't care. Something's going on!

best regards, lm

YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

A rep from one of the gluten-free companies, told me that the Ceral companies PURPOOSLLY added "Wheat" to their cerals for this EXACT reason. NO phone calls asking if it's gluten-free, and NO claims that people got sick. He said the original recipies did not call for "wheat or Malt flavoring" in them...

LOVELY

[Tica]

When I called the 1-800 number I was told that, although the McDonalds fries ARE gluten free, they have a coating sprayed on them prior to shipping that contains gluten. The grilled chicken also has gluten added to it. Wendy's has more gluten free options than McDonalds does.

[psawyer]

This thread is more than a year old. For a recent discussion, started two weeks ago, with 50 posts (so far) Open Original Shared Link It is an interesting discussion.

Read it, then decide for yourself. Keep in mind that the ingredients differ from country to country.