Require Restaurants To Have Ingredient Labeling

[sillyactrus]

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in May 2007. I got married in March 2007 and shortly after got very sick. I started passing out at work, was fatigued, and had two miscarriages. It became hard to walk and I had vertigo constantly. My situation got really bad when I was driving to work and I started to get dizzy yet again. My arm went limp and I hurried over to the side of the road. I talked to my husband and he couldn't understand because I was slurring my words. It was like a stroke. I went to ER and stayed in the hospital for a few days. We thought I had MS. Has anyone had this bad of neurological problems? Well I also found out that when I went to Mexico I got some parasites. Well I have had a very long and interesting medical history this past year in a half. I have been wanting to find others that I could relate to and learn from. I continued to get sick because I kept eating the wrong food. Now I am very very careful. One thing that drives me crazy is when you go to a restaurant and you ask them for a gluten free list and they begin to tell you what they think is probably ok. I then proceed to tell them that if I get any gluten in my system I might need to go to the hospital or I will be out of work for two weeks. Shortly after my miscarriage in November 2007 I was out of work for 2 months. I have very severe neurological reactions. So, basically I want to see if there is some way that restaurants can be required to give us an allergen list to see what is ok for us. Please respond and I would really like this to become a law or to have the FDA support this law. I was just wondering if anyone could give advise on what I could do or what we could do?

[Lisa]

I am very sorry that you have had such difficulties. But, I am a firm believer that we take on sole responsibility when we eat outside our home.

We have Celiac Disease, restaurants did not cause this and it's not their responsibility to remedy the situation.

I am grateful when some restaurants make an effort to accommodate those of us with food concerns, but again, my health concerns are my responsibility alone.

[kenlove]

It's really a good idea but I wouldn't hold my breath for any time of national action. We've taken another approach in Hawaii to educate the culinary students on celiac and other food allergies and ingredients contained in food service items. Thats part of the problem for getting restaurants aware. They buy their ingredients from a wide variety of places and with mayo for example may get 2 or 3 different types form the supplier over the course of a year. @ of the 3 may be gluten free but the 3rd would not be. I use this as an example as I got glutened once because of a mayo change in a restaurant I frequent. Once a restaurant commits to gluten free items on a menu they will usually check for changes

but to order a meal and have people check in the average place would be darn near impossible. Even salad dressings --

sure we can get a salad in most places but I get tired of just putting lemon and oil on it for dressing although I have asked to see what they are using a read the bottles -- or bring my own with me. In short, restaurants will never check ingredients unless they have made a firm commitment to gluten-free items on the menu and even then some places might be questionable. If you look at my profile and get my website there is a list of does and donts for restaurants in Hawaii as well as a basic guide for culinary students. With the help of forum members, we put this together last year and its now been adopted by a number of culinary schools in Hawaii. Not all but a good number of them. A number of restaurants on the Big Island have also reviewed things with their staff and can safely offer gluten-free meals. It's not where is should be but its getting there and much better than it was. We had to start someplace. Its a good fight and worth the time and effort.

Ken

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in May 2007. I got married in March 2007 and shortly after got very sick. I started passing out at work, was fatigued, and had two miscarriages. It became hard to walk and I had vertigo constantly. My situation got really bad when I was driving to work and I started to get dizzy yet again. My arm went limp and I hurried over to the side of the road. I talked to my husband and he couldn't understand because I was slurring my words. It was like a stroke. I went to ER and stayed in the hospital for a few days. We thought I had MS. Has anyone had this bad of neurological problems? Well I also found out that when I went to Mexico I got some parasites. Well I have had a very long and interesting medical history this past year in a half. I have been wanting to find others that I could relate to and learn from. I continued to get sick because I kept eating the wrong food. Now I am very very careful. One thing that drives me crazy is when you go to a restaurant and you ask them for a gluten free list and they begin to tell you what they think is probably ok. I then proceed to tell them that if I get any gluten in my system I might need to go to the hospital or I will be out of work for two weeks. Shortly after my miscarriage in November 2007 I was out of work for 2 months. I have very severe neurological reactions. So, basically I want to see if there is some way that restaurants can be required to give us an allergen list to see what is ok for us. Please respond and I would really like this to become a law or to have the FDA support this law. I was just wondering if anyone could give advise on what I could do or what we could do?

[sillyactrus]

Thank you for your input. It has been interesting seeing how each restaurant is so very different. I always thought balsamic vinegar was safe but then a restaurant told me theirs wasn't safe. So I find it interesting how you can never just guess. I have really done my research and I will continue to do my research on what I should and shouldn't eat. I always go to the manager now and tell them my situation and that usually helps. I have just been disapointed a few times when I go to a restaurant and tell them about the allergies and they try to tell me that "Meatloaf is probably ok, or maybe not. You could probably just eat the salad." I am not saying that as a consumer I don't take responsibility I am just saying that more people should know about the allergies. I have gone to many places that are very accomodating. I don't think it is unresonable to see some changes in a few years. There are many people out there that would benefit from seeing what may or may not be in the food. As we all have learned guesses don't work. There are many times where we will not be able to eat at our homes and we may need to eat out. It would be nice to know of a surety that I am safe. Also there are many people with other allergies that may take them to ER and they can have very serious reactions. My coworker was very allergic to some fruit and there was some type of cross contamination. She became very sick and had to rush to the ER. Well those are just some of my thoughts. Ken that is great that you are teaching other chefs about the disease. Even just giving some chefs some basic knowledge about the disease would be very helpful. Great work

[kenlove]

Thanks,

Usually the easiest place to start is the restaurants you visit most often. Feel free to take the file I have and give it to them. The Italian celiac association files are great too and chefs here fine them helpful in preparing a gluten-free work location in their kitchens.

Good luck

Ken

Thank you for your input. It has been interesting seeing how each restaurant is so very different. I always thought balsamic vinegar was safe but then a restaurant told me theirs wasn't safe. So I find it interesting how you can never just guess. I have really done my research and I will continue to do my research on what I should and shouldn't eat. I always go to the manager now and tell them my situation and that usually helps. I have just been disapointed a few times when I go to a restaurant and tell them about the allergies and they try to tell me that "Meatloaf is probably ok, or maybe not. You could probably just eat the salad." I am not saying that as a consumer I don't take responsibility I am just saying that more people should know about the allergies. I have gone to many places that are very accomodating. I don't think it is unresonable to see some changes in a few years. There are many people out there that would benefit from seeing what may or may not be in the food. As we all have learned guesses don't work. There are many times where we will not be able to eat at our homes and we may need to eat out. It would be nice to know of a surety that I am safe. Also there are many people with other allergies that may take them to ER and they can have very serious reactions. My coworker was very allergic to some fruit and there was some type of cross contamination. She became very sick and had to rush to the ER. Well those are just some of my thoughts. Ken that is great that you are teaching other chefs about the disease. Even just giving some chefs some basic knowledge about the disease would be very helpful. Great work