Mcdonalds Must Read

[Guest Agonist]

whoops, at least it is the law where I live

[Guest gliX]

Fries are completely kept separate. Meats are cooked at a different station.

[WOLVERINE]

according to the following link, posted 5/27/2007 McDonalds fries are NOT gluten-free!!!!

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[SunnyDyRain]

I saw that before, and I agree, they are not 100% gluten free, but I've eaten them several times in a crunch.. and I've never reacted.

I don't do it often, and I am aware i'm taking a risk. But so far, so good.

Your Mileage may Vary!

[mama2five]

I will say this,

For the past few Sundays, I have been going back to McD's for their hash browns in the morning.

During two of the Sundays, I ordered the Big Breakfast (double hash browns no Biscuit -- no charge)

When I ordered the Big Breakfast, I had "severe digestive trauma" and diarrhea, but when I had just the hash browns, I had no ill effects.

It has to be the gloves on the cook, right??

This is problematic for me because I love McD's sausage, but am petrified of trying the Big Breakfast again as the consequences outweigh the benefits...

Thoughts???

According to the link the hashbrowns have wheat in them. I would avoid them.

[Lisa]

For all those reading this thread, please keep in mind that it was begun in 2004 and so much has changed regarding product information.

For current confirmation regarding McD's gluten free products, please contact them at www.mcdonalds.com

[gf4life]

according to the following link, posted 5/27/2007 McDonalds fries are NOT gluten-free!!!!

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Last year when McD's added the wheat/milk allergen label on their fries there was a big stink about it. They ELISA tested the fries for gluten and there were no detectable levels of gluten. The hashbrowns are the same. They still have to leave that on there because at some point in the processing the product does come in contact with wheat/milk, and for people who are extremely sensitive it could be an issue.

That being said, I do let my kids have the fries. It is the only place they can get fries in our town other than at home! So we do get them for the kids about once a month, and a bit more often when we travel. It is a personal choice and one that each person has to decide for themselves.

I personally don't eat the fries because I don't digest deep fried foods well at all. Too much grease and since I lost my gallbladder about 7 years ago deep fried doesn't go over too good. Thats okay, I can live without McD's fries. Occasionally I will have a small handful of In-N-Out's fries. Those are good! And worth the trouble!

[little d]

HI

My daughter and I went to MD's yesterday and I had been getting the Grilled chicken sandwich the Club without the Tomato, but I had been feeling a little groggy after, but yesterday I had ordered the grilled salad and it was really good I have not had a salad for MD's in quite a while so it was good, and I didn't feel any groggyness after, but well see on the other end.

Donna

[gf4life]

little d, I would be wary of the grilled chicken. It is NOT gluten free, and the gluten is in the seasoning on the actual product. Here is what their current ingredient list says:

Grilled Chicken Breast Filet:

Chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed [corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten] proteins, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source), caramel color, polysorbate 80,

xanthan gum, onion powder, extractives of paprika), modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates. CONTAINS: SOY AND WHEAT.

[nakladane]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, fast food is alaround BAD for you. It is greasy and yuck.

Even if it weren't, I still wouldn't eat it. I happen to work at a fast food restaurant, and it only takes a second to contaminate something. If we aren't chucking random things (meatballs, ice cubes, pickles...) into the fryers for fun when no one's around, we're grabbing fries and nuggets out of their holding bins to snack on every couple of minutes. Don't pretend like you don't do it, all-ye-who-fry-things, I know you do. We can't help it sometimes. XD Other thing is that when we're real busy, most of the time whoever happens to be making sandwiches turns around and drops fries for everyone without changing gloves. Plus, 90% of the time a sandwich maker will leave the gloves he or she's been handling buns with on while he puts your bun-less burger and lettuce and junk in a box. I've seen this done at just about every restaurant I've been to, not just mine. Crumbs get everywhere. On the tables, on the grill, on our shirts and sleeves, on tongs and spatulas...

Crazy stuff. Be careful, ok? And thanks a bunch for listening to me rant there. Sorry to take up so much space.

[gfp]

100% positive the fries are gluten-free.

their website lists it, and if they were wrong they could be sued for millions of dollars

and it's in this book that i have, its basically a foundation that finds out whats good and they personally go to every place and verify that its good.

dont worry

The testing they did said conclusively that the fries did contain gluten. If you find the actual PDF document (and I don't have time now) it is written in such a way as to make you think its negative because they start off with a ELISA test which was negative then write a whole lot... later on they have the results of the RAST test which were positive...

From theMcDonalds website

Small French Fries

Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)

As for trusting McDonalds they lied for years to the ameriocan Hindu Association about the fries being vegetarian and not containing beef.

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Quite why people choose to keep believing this in the face of facts is beyond me but this is from the McDonalds site.

[kbtoyssni]

As for trusting McDonalds they lied for years to the ameriocan Hindu Association about the fries being vegetarian and not containing beef.

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Quite why people choose to keep believing this in the face of facts is beyond me but this is from the McDonalds site.

I certainly don't trust McDonalds, but I think part of the problem with this was that they did not use beef in their fries in India but still used beef in the USA. So when someone in the USA asked about the fries, they assumed that the fries in India were made the same way.

[gfp]

I certainly don't trust McDonalds, but I think part of the problem with this was that they did not use beef in their fries in India but still used beef in the USA. So when someone in the USA asked about the fries, they assumed that the fries in India were made the same way.

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[BRob66]

I have had a very strong reaction the their fries,,I believe it was a cross-contamination thing. since that was all i had had so far that day besides a coffee,,,pretty positive it was mac's.

[kbtoyssni]

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I'm not exactly sure who told who what and in what country, but maybe the issue is that the Hindu Association asked about the fries, McD's answered assuming (conveniently) they were talking about India. I agree with the lawsuit based on the fact that there should be more transparency in food labeling (ingredients in "secret" recipes still need to be disclosed in some way), but I think there's a lot more behind this than is seen in the article. And again, although I think McD's "technically" answered correctly, I think they were still in the wrong because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you give an answer like 'our fries don't contain beef' you need to qualify that statement. I feel there's so much cover-up going on in the fast food industry about what's in the food and how bad it is for you, that I stopped eating there long before I got celiac.

[Lisa]

I have had a very strong reaction the their fries,,I believe it was a cross-contamination thing. since that was all i had had so far that day besides a coffee,,,pretty positive it was mac's.

Since you are relatively new to the diet and healing is in the begining stages it is likely that you can react to many foods, gluten free or not. I would wait for some time and try the fries again and see if you have the same reaction.

I am not advocating McD's fries or not, but they do not bother me.

[Rpm999]

I have had a very strong reaction the their fries,,I believe it was a cross-contamination thing. since that was all i had had so far that day besides a coffee,,,pretty positive it was mac's.

no offense to fans, but does that really surprise you? fast food places are so dumb, i've had green fries too many times

[blueeyedmanda]

For me I think it depends on the McDonalds, some fries have not bothered me some have made me feel a little iffy afterwards.

[gfp]

I'm not exactly sure who told who what and in what country, but maybe the issue is that the Hindu Association asked about the fries, McD's answered assuming (conveniently) they were talking about India. I agree with the lawsuit based on the fact that there should be more transparency in food labeling (ingredients in "secret" recipes still need to be disclosed in some way), but I think there's a lot more behind this than is seen in the article. And again, although I think McD's "technically" answered correctly, I think they were still in the wrong because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you give an answer like 'our fries don't contain beef' you need to qualify that statement. I feel there's so much cover-up going on in the fast food industry about what's in the food and how bad it is for you, that I stopped eating there long before I got celiac.

Well I think this is all the problem.

This is just the first link but at the time I read more. People had letters (in America) from McDonalds saying the fries WERE vegetarian (following the change from using tallow) The final wording of the settlement is a compromise (obviously) ...

The reason this is important is I read the whole analysis of McDo's oil for the fries AND it definitely says they contain gluten. However it is written in such a way that unless you are reasonably proficient at reading analytic reports it seems to say the opposite. The whole preface only mentions negative results on the ELISA and it it only 1-2 lines buried deep inside that mention the positive RAST testing for gluten specific proteins.

As you say "our fries don't contain beef" needs qualifying but they rely on people taking this at face value. They don't say "bovine derived products" because they deliberately write in a way that this would sound inappropriate. That is they keep the writing conversational and dumbed down hence "beef" is taken to mean (in context) stuff from dead cows.

At the end of the day the issue of CC is probably as or more important but to me the company set out to deceive.

As I posted direct from the McDo website, the fries are NOT gluten-free but you have to search for this and its made difficult but it's there... (in other words for legal reasons they can say its there) . Like with your "beef" example... on has to ask very specific questions BUT since they know that when we are confronted with an "employee" on minimum wage they know we will not be able to ask those very specific questions ..

[angeleyes-]

hi im new

In sweden mcdonalds, burger king and a place called max have gluten free bread or if u call it buns. so you just say "Hi i want a gluten free big mac" and it takes like 3 min and then you got one!

[blueeyedmanda]

hi im new

In sweden mcdonalds, burger king and a place called max have gluten free bread or if u call it buns. so you just say "Hi i want a gluten free big mac" and it takes like 3 min and then you got one!

That's great you are very lucky, the US does not have anything like that.

[Daughter-of-TheLight]

In Europe, they are somewhat more... informed of Celiac, considering they have a Hotshot doctor that's spread the word.... I heard that in Italy they test every kindergardener for Celiac.

[nutralady2001]

Just sneaking in here

In Australia the fries and hash browns are gluten-free.

(Coeliac Society say that as well so it isn't just the McDonalds site)

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Of course you still need to ask about the dedicated friers and think of the c/c issues

[allison lynn xo]

i went on the mcdonald's website and looked at their ingredients for their food and here's fries:

French Fries:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)

[cruelshoes]

i went on the mcdonald's website and looked at their ingredients for their food and here's fries:

French Fries:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)

According to the CSA, the fries have been tested independently and the gluten level is BLD (below levels of detection). Fries will never be a health food, and CC is always a possibility. I do allow my son to eat them at McDonald's on occasion because the gluten in the end product cannot be detected in the most sensitive testing available. We have never reacted to the fries. It is definitely a personal choice, but I feel they are a safe choice.

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The Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) has examined the commercial manufacturing process of the natural flavoring with wheat as a starting ingredient which is used in connection with the McDonald