15 replies to this topic

[Dannyfor zsuzy]

MY daughter is 10 years old and loves the Carl's Jr Chili Cheese fries. She never gets any symptoms so I can’t really tell if there could be any contamination problems. Has anybody ever gotten sick from eating at Carls Jr?

[Dasmith]

I made sure the Carl's Jr I eat at has a dedicated fryer, and they do, but I eat the plain fries. Also the lettuce wrapped burger. I do let them know that I cannot have anything w/gluten touching my food items also....I have only been cross contaminated once in about the 15 or so times I have eaten there (in about a year and a half time period).

[lovegrov]

The Hardee's (same company as Carl's) where I eat the low carb burger do NOT have dedicated fryers. You need to ask.

richard

[G-freegal12]

I personally would NOT trust them . Some people can get so healed that gluten doesnt hurt for a looong time . Plus, it will be cross contaminated one time or another even if you tell them you CANNOT have gluten ...they are so terrible about regular orders, such as, "No pickles" I wouldnt expect them to know or care what gluten was.

[gfsoccerstar]

I agree with the one above becouse if they have like chicken tenders and if the put the french fries and the chicken in the same oil then thats basicaly cross contamination. so dont get them even if they say that it doesnt have any gluten or wheat. It might be a pain for then but if you really want then you might be able to ask them if they could chainge the oil and clean the frier then just use it for your fries then they could use it for any thing else till you come back next time.

[rosetapper23]

When I'm traveling and can't find a suitable restaurant along the highway, I always choose to eat at a Carl's Jr. Whenever I emphasize that I can't have wheat or gluten, the manager is called out to speak with me, and the manager follows the order through to its completion. The employee charged with the order changes gloves and takes precautions to make sure there is no contamination. I can honestly say that I've had their lettuce-wrapped burgers and fries about two dozen times during the past seven years, and I've never experienced cross-contamination--and I'm EXTREMELY sensitive to even the smallest amounts of gluten.

[lovegrov]

Let me emphasize again -- at Hardee's the fryers are NOT dedicated. This means there absolutely IS cross contamination. Maybe Carl's is different, but you must ask.

richard

[nampalady]

Let me emphasize again -- at Hardee's the fryers are NOT dedicated. This means there absolutely IS cross contamination. Maybe Carl's is different, but you must ask.

I heard mcDonalds and burger king's fryers are safe? If they cook chicken in their fryers it isn't.

[psawyer]

At a standard McDonalds, the fryers for the potato products are dedicated. Not so at BK.

[drh7900]

At a standard McDonalds, the fryers for the potato products are dedicated. Not so at BK.

I can't say about McDonald's but BK DOES have dedicated french fry fryers. I worked for a Franchisee for 8 years and proper procedures call for frying ONLY French fries in the French fry fryers. That said, the hash rounds and sausage are fried in the "multi-pot" which is where the breaded chicken and fish are also fried, so the hash rounds and sausage are NOT safe.

That said, any company can have procedures which call for the fry-pot to be for fries only, but you have to trust that the employees are following the protocols. I have witnessed employees frying the fries in the multi-pot at the end of the day because they wanted to get a jump start on filtering/cleaning the fryers (not just at BK, I've seen this at other restaurants as well).

[lovegrov]

I know that BK used to have dedicated fryers in the U.S. However, people frequently complained about finding onion rings in their fries.

richard

[kareng]

I know that BK used to have dedicated fryers in the U.S. However, people frequently complained about finding onion rings in their fries.

richard

I used to find that a fun bonus!

(No restauraunt in particular)

[drh7900]

I know that BK used to have dedicated fryers in the U.S. However, people frequently complained about finding onion rings in their fries.

richard

That actually has more to do with after/cooking storage than the frying process. They are put into a large holding area (with a metal divider to keep the onion rings separate). But that divider isn't foolproof. I guess the good point to take from that is there could still be cross contamination after cooking. If you got the fries straight from the fryer (provided that they were cooked in oil only used for fries) they SHOULD be safe. But...something I just thought about (and forgive me...I'm new to this board and relatively new to being gluten-free)...the fry baskets are used for all products. In that regard, breading from onion rings or chicken or fish could get on the baskets and contaminate the fry oil. I suppose if you were sensitive enought, that could be a problem.

[kareng]

That actually has more to do with after/cooking storage than the frying process. They are put into a large holding area (with a metal divider to keep the onion rings separate). But that divider isn't foolproof. I guess the good point to take from that is there could still be cross contamination after cooking. If you got the fries straight from the fryer (provided that they were cooked in oil only used for fries) they SHOULD be safe. But...something I just thought about (and forgive me...I'm new to this board and relatively new to being gluten-free)...the fry baskets are used for all products. In that regard, breading from onion rings or chicken or fish could get on the baskets and contaminate the fry oil. I suppose if you were sensitive enought, that could be a problem.

Thanks . I think that's really helpful.

[GFinDC]

Thanks for the insight on the fry baskets! I never worked in a McD or big chain fast food restaurant, but I worked in our family restaurant. Our fryers were side by side less than an inch part. They had rails above the oil vat that the baskets could be hung on to drain. We generally kept the breaded items in one fryer and the non-breaded in the other one. The breaded items tend to burn easily and dis-color the oil. Plus they release flavors into the oil. The fries would be discolored if they were fried in that oil. So fries in that oil could come out tasting like onion rings or mushrooms. Interesting but a little weird. So the fries being separate was more for taste and saleability than anything. It is a practical thing really. Smaller restaurants with just one fryer wouldn't have a choice of course. That was 25 years ago and the restaurant wasn't aiming to be gluten-free. But it's easy to see how people could grab the fry basket and throw mushrooms in it or the onion ring basket and throw fries in it during busy times. Or just put the basket on the wrong fryer and the oil drip in the vat. I don't remember ever trying to keep fryer baskets separated by function. Our family restaurant closed years ago though, so no problem now. I imagine chain restaurants could have the same issues though.

We had an easy trick for freshening up the oil. We would throw a couple slices of white bread in the oil and fry it. That absorbed off flavors from the oil and kept the food tasting ok. And it worked for both the breaded fryer and the fries oil fryer. Neat trick. Kept us from having to filter the oil as often, which is a hot dangerous job. Of course we only had one filter unit so all the oil had to go through the same filter unit at the end of the day.

I haven't worked in a modern chain restaurant so I don't know how things are done in them.

Welcome to the board! I hope you like it here!