Moe's Southwest Grill

[savvvyseller]

In response to my recent inquiry, a public relations specialist for the parent company of Moe's Southwest Grill advised me last week that the entire chain should be gluten-free (with several exceptions) by the end of February. From her email:

". . . What this means is that we are changing the vegetable stock we are using to one that is free of gluten. The vegetable stock is used in almost all of our food preparation so this is definitely a huge step in the direction of being able to take care of our customers that have Celiac disease. Of course this does not include the flour tortillas. I would also avoid the chips and the corn shells for now since they are fried in oil that is used for the flour tortillas. Please check back with us at www.moes.com for more information and for the big announcement. . . .

Lauren McGowen

Public Relations Specialist

Raving Brands"

[tiredofdoctors]

Thank you so much for posting that -- we have a Moe's here and I was wondering about it, but haven't gotten around to contacting them. I appreciate it a LOT . . . . . Lynne

[key]

We have a Moe's here and thanks for the information. Haven't eaten there, but my friends do.

Thanks,

Monica

[CarlaB]

I went to Moe's at an off-time and stood by the kitchen. They let me read their seasonings, cans, etc. to see the ingredients. The main office had told me they were switching over to Knorr seasoning, and this particular restaurant already had the Knorr seasoning. The label on the Knorr said "modified food starch." I have not researched it any further as the cook told me that they only use it in the chicken, so the seasoning they told you and I they were switching to is only used in one product and has modified food starch in it. I read the other seasonings, for the beans, etc. and found they were okay. I avoid the chicken because of the unnamed food starch.

CC is an issue because they touch the tortillas, then use the same hands to pick up the ingredients ... I'm one of those who gets ill off of crumbs, and only have a mild reaction when I eat there.

They have a binder that has all the recipes and ingredients listed. They have been very helpful to me when I've asked, but I've also only bothered them with questions when they weren't busy.

[Jeff and Lisa]

We took our 4 year old to Moe's hoping to find her something she could eat as well as some decent Mexican food on the east coast. The Cary, NC Moe's was not particularly helpful answering our questions but the time gave us the chance to observe their atrocious food handling. If you are not concerned about cross-contamination then the food handling is normal not atrocious. Their hands were all over the flour tortillas then into the ingredient bowls so the cheese, lettuce, etc is ALL cross-contaminated. I would not recommend it.

Jeff