Mcdonalds Fries Are Not Gluten Free

[msserena]

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[psawyer]

I assume you are referring to the statement:

Contains derivatives of wheat and dairy.

This was discussed at great length here in February. Despite this disclosure (which applies only to one source and only to the United States), independent testing has confirmed that there is no gluten in the fries. The mentioned derivatives are in a flavoring agent which is contained in the oil used in pre-processing the fries before they are frozen and shipped to the store. The disclosure is a side of effect of the new FALCPA act of 2004.

There is no wheat protein (gluten) in the derivative used to flavor this oil, which is not the frying oil used in the restaurants.

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Disclaimer: I do not work for, own shares in, nor am in any other manner associated with McDonalds, nor have I ever been.

[VydorScope]

I assume you are referring to the statement:

This was discussed at great length here in February. Despite this disclosure (which applies only to one source and only to the United States), independent testing has confirmed that there is no gluten in the fries. The mentioned derivatives are in a flavoring agent which is contained in the oil used in pre-processing the fries before they are frozen and shipped to the store. The disclosure is a side of effect of the new FALCPA act of 2004.

There is no wheat protein (gluten) in the derivative used to flavor this oil, which is not the frying oil used in the restaurants.

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Disclaimer: I do not work for, own shares in, nor am in any other manner associated with McDonalds, nor have I ever been.

Or read thier offical statement on wheat:

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I highly recomend avioding thier fries becasue of high CC risk,(reguarldes of any gluten ingreditents) and I base that soley on my personal experences with the McDonalds near me.

[VydorScope]

Acuatlly more pertintant to us here is thier offical "Gluten Statement"

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[psawyer]

Obviously, this is not a black-and-white issue, which is why it is important to consider all the facts before making your own decision. But, if the possibility of an undetectable trace of gluten remaining in the fries from the flavoring is a concern to you, then due to the significant cross-contamination risk, you probably should not be eating in any fast food restaurant at all.

[gfp]

The bottom line is would you trust McDonalds who have been proven in court to have lied on official statements multiple times.

here is one example:

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However the wording is what points inthe wrong direction for me

From the other thread

McDonald's always believed that the fries were gluten-free.

answered by

If they are so innocent why the hell were they sneaky about it! If all that happened was their distributor told them what was REALLY in the fries and they REALLY didnt know before this new law what was in them, then why on earth would they just quietly release this info on their web site....just makes them look like they are trying to hide something to me.

And in regards to my prior post.....I do not think I am entitled to go eat anything anywhere....If I didnt make it I can not trust it fully!

But if a restaurant wants to tell us things are safe....they damn well better be!

If a restaurant has a gluten-free menu or a list of their ingredients you want me to believe they are doing this because they really give a damn about me or my health....NO WAY....they do it for ONE reason......To try to get/save the business of people with allergies...and thats it!

All I can say is I would much rather have a restaurant tell me that they dont know what is in their food then tell me that its safe and have it not be!

Fromt he Offical McDo release...

In conjunction with the new Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, our suppliers informed us

for the first time that hydrolyzed milk and hydrolyzed wheat are ingredients in the natural flavoring used in

the frying oil for the French fries and hash browns. Based on this new information, we updated nutrition

disclosures on these products on our website.

So before they were informed by their supplier they didn't ask... yet they labelled their product gluten-free....

This sounds like "lets not ask the wquestion then we are not responsible" to me or perhaps best summed up by as line from Independance Day "Two words Mr. President, plausible deniability" (or close )

Secondly they chose a specific test the "RIDASCREEN Gliadin ELISA test at a 3 parts per million level of

sensitivity."

The Ridascreen Gliadin test is a sandwich enzyme immunoassay for the quantitative analysis of gliadins from wheat and corresponding prolamines from rye and barley in food. Gluten is the characteristic term for the protein mixture of glutelins and gliadins (prolamines) found in cereals. The proportion of glutelin to gliadin in the protein mixture is approximately the same

Ridascreen Gliadin (R7001)

Detection limit: 1.5 ppm gliadine corresponding to 3 ppm (0.0003%) wheat gluten

Sample preparation: Homogenization and extraction

Incubation time: 1h 30 min

Note: The gliadin test can detect gluten from wheat, rye and barley quantitatively with a detection limit of 3 ppm.

Ridascreen Fast Gliadin (R7002)

Detection limit: 5 ppm gliadin corresponding to 10 ppm (0.001%) wheat gluten

Testing time: Approximately 1 hour.

Note: In addition to wheat gluten, the Fast Gliadin kit is 100% cross-reactive to rye and barley.

This is a production testing kit NOT a lab analysis. There is a world of difference.

If you are looking for a CYA instead of fact this is ideal and saves them circa $300 on a proper lab analysis by GC-MS which can detect ppb.

The screening tests are designed for production line screening NOT making statements about the composition.

Secondly the statement is deliberatly misleading... they quote a gliadin test but in units of gluten which in durham wheat is 0.8:1

The bottom line is McDonalds has been in court over misleading its consumers many times. Some of the cases have been wrong, some have been dropped on insufficient evidence of culpability and some have been found true. Is this really the profile of a company you want to trust?

In the end we all need to decide that for ourselves.

[VydorScope]

Obviously, this is not a black-and-white issue, which is why it is important to consider all the facts before making your own decision. But, if the possibility of an undetectable trace of gluten remaining in the fries from the flavoring is a concern to you, then due to the significant cross-contamination risk, you probably should not be eating in any fast food restaurant at all.

Your right, and I do not take my son to those places. When he has had McDondals fries his reaction was very bad, and very clear. CC risks are everywhere, and we accept that, but when a place like McDondals constitenly has an issue, we steer clear. I said that BEFORE this new ingredient informatoin came out, and stand by it. REGUARDLESS of any gluten in the ingredients McDondals is, in my personal experence, unable to produce gluten free fries. Same with Burger King, and etc.

There are posts on this board from employees and family of employees of McDonalds that share stores of them frieing pies, and etc in the french fryers, droping in nuggest in a rush and so on.

I guess in my eyes theres difference between the risk of CC (such as with any mainstream product) and the appearent garrenntee of CC that McDondals offers. In my personal experence I have never seen a McDondals where CC was not evident.

[penguin]

Isn't this horse dead enough without beating it?

If it makes you sick, don't eat it. McDonald's is not required to disclose allergens, since they are a restaurant, not a manufacturer. They don't fall under the umbrella of the labelling law, but they volunteered to disclose that information. The FDA also does not have regulations regarding what is "gluten-free" in the US so most companies use the European codex standard of 30 ppm or less. McDonald's sent their fries to the U. of Nebraska to be tested, like many other companies do. In a lab setting, the fries are gluten-free. Like Vincent said, McDonald's or any ff place is a hotbed of cc.

Keep in mind also that gluten free menus are provided as a courtesy and as a guideline. They are not hard and fast menus, but guides of what is probably gluten-free consistently. Eating out is always a risk, especially when the employees are making minimum wage and there is poor training and high turnover. Nobody requires anybody to provide gluten-free menus.

[KaitiUSA]

I used to eat them but now I avoid them because of the recent talk about it.

[gfp]

Isn't this horse dead enough without beating it?

If it makes you sick, don't eat it. McDonald's is not required to disclose allergens, since they are a restaurant, not a manufacturer. They don't fall under the umbrella of the labelling law, but they volunteered to disclose that information. The FDA also does not have regulations regarding what is "gluten-free" in the US so most companies use the European codex standard of 30 ppm or less.

I think that is the point.

If McDonalds volunteers the information they should make sure its accurate. They have the option of not providing it if they are unsure so when they choose to make public statements and provide fact sheets they should make sure they are accurate as if they are unsure they have the option of saying so or saying nothing.

The way I see it, if they were required by legislation to provide the information and made a mistake that is one thing but to volunteer false information is a different matter be that knowoingly or by m,aking sure they ave no paperwork that proves they knew the composition of the oil. Equally if this were an isolated incident I would be more sympathetic but McDonalds has a long history of releasing inaccurate statements and the main problem is to prove mea culpa.

McDonald's sent their fries to the U. of Nebraska to be tested, like many other companies do. In a lab setting, the fries are gluten-free.

This is not a indication of diligence it is a act of CYA. They presumably chose to test using the ELISA test because it is less accurate and only semi-quantitative, I can't see a few thousand $ of GC-MS time actually being the reason they opted for the screening test rather than a real quantitive test.

If I can make a corallory

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Ford clearly knew that people would be killed due to the defect but their action was to see what they might loose in litigation vs a recall. Its a simple mathematical decision on which the cost of human life is determined only by what they might be sued for..

However, why would the consumers be surprised by this.... Ford had already clearly demonstrated its position over the Pinto

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The point I am trying to make is some companies operate like this. McDonalds has been proven in court on many many occaisions to have deliberatly released false information. The link I made above (prior post) links to just one case, but its a recent US case and yet it appears most people are unaware of it.

[penguin]

Conspiracy theories aside, nobody is forcing you to buy anything from them.

I commend them for taking the fries of the gluten-free list. And for having a gluten-free list at all.

[gfp]

Conspiracy theories aside, nobody is forcing you to buy anything from them.

I commend them for taking the fries of the gluten-free list. And for having a gluten-free list at all.

Its not a conspiracy theory that McDonalds lie about their ingredients, it is a matter of court record.

All I am expressing is "are they the sort of company you want to trust" and as I said earlier that is an individual matter everyone can decide for themselves.

I find it surprising that poeople have not read of the previous cases (like the one I posted) and I am merely seeking to bring this to peoples attention so they can decide for themselves. Personally I prefer top trust people and organisations until they do something to prove me wrong and in the case of ford and Mcdonalds they have already done this so I would be a fool to trust them...."Fool me once shame on you..." (add the ending of your choice here )

The reason I hesititate to commend them is because they had the fries on a gluten-free list but never asked the manufacturers of the oil. So whereby its good they have taken them off now I question their motivation ... for instance if they got a different supplier who would give them a certificate of gluten-free compliance (for instance to codex standards) and they knew it contained gluten anyway I don't think they have the interest of their customers at heart. My reasoning on this is the multiple court cases that have proven them to be deliberatly covering up ingredients.

They may have changed? Who knows but for me they have shown their colors and they will need to do something more than take gluten-free fires off the list to convince me they are interested in providing their customers with nutritional infomation.

I realize supersize-me is a commerical film and they guy made money from making it but in nearly all the McDo's he went to the nutritional info was unavailable and McDonalds have yet to sue him or issue a correction so considering they are court happy I am happy to accept they say one thing but practice another.