"modified Food Starch" In Curly Fries... What Do You Think?

[hineini]

I was at a local hamburger place called Barney's, and they have the most delicious curly fries (a/k/a spicy fries). I asked to see the ingredients and they gave me a printout. One of the ingredients was "modified food starch." According to some lists, in the US "modified food starch" is almost always gluten-free. Would you trust this?

Since I don't yet have a celiac disease diagnosis I'm not concerned about cross-contamination from them being fried in oil that other things have been fried in (if I find out I have celiac disease I'll obviously have to be more careful).

[elonwy]

Did the ingredients include the coating on the fries and the stuff they sprinkle on it? Do the fries look like french fries with stuff sprinkled on them, or are they brown and crunchy. The brown and crunchy ones usually have flour on them.

Modified food starch, when not identified, is always a red flag. There is alot of modified food starch that is made from wheat. Usually if it's made from corn it'll say it right there as modified corn starch, but not always. I would not eat them without contacting the company that makes them. Do they have a corporate office you can contact? They should be able to give you that info.

Elonwy

[CarlaB]

I would verify. I do not have celiac, I am gluten intolerant. It is still important to watch for contamination. I get as sick as a celiac when I get contamination, and apparently get the damage as well judging by the symptoms that sent me seeking a diagnosis.

[hineini]

  elonwy said:

Did the ingredients include the coating on the fries and the stuff they sprinkle on it? Do the fries look like french fries with stuff sprinkled on them, or are they brown and crunchy. The brown and crunchy ones usually have flour on them.

They include the coating on the fries. They are reddish/brown in color and crunchy.

Sounds like "food starch" is too ambiguous to have any confidence that it's gluten-free.