Glutened By Coffee?

[ranger]

I must say that I drink coffee at home with no problem ( or, none that I know of.) But, once a week, I go to the local hospital to accompany a friend going though chemo and, even though I take my own food, it seems like I get glutened. The only thing I drink there is the coffee. Is it possible for the hospital coffee to contain gluten? I would hate to think of not going with her, but I am so carefull with everything else and I hate to be sick. Anyone else have a situation like this?

[Lisa]

Generally most coffee's are gluten free. Look for 100% coffee at the store. Anything is subject to cross contamination when you're dealing with a community use.

To be on the safe side, bring your coffee with you or bring a soft drink.

[FarmCat]

Generally most coffee's are gluten free. Look for 100% coffee at the store. Anything is subject to cross contamination when you're dealing with a community use.

To be on the safe side, bring your coffee with you or bring a soft drink.

Are you sensitive to egg? The other day I stumbled across the fact that some coffee manufacturers put a little egg in with the coffee to make the brew look clear instead of cloudy.

[Lisa]

Are you sensitive to egg? The other day I stumbled across the fact that some coffee manufacturers put a little egg in with the coffee to make the brew look clear instead of cloudy.

Blaaaah (throw-up sound)

Can you find any documentation for that. Egg, being one of the main allergens, could make it critical for some, if undisclosed and that would be required by law. I find it hard to believe.

[Nantzie]

Yea, it's probably cross contamination rather than the coffee. If you think about it, how many times before finding out about gluten did you think "I just touched some bread. I have to wash my hands before making the coffee." The person behind the counter making the sandwiches and setting out the bagels is probably the same person making the coffee - touching the filter, reaching into the coffee canister, etc.

Unless people touch something like raw meat, they don't even think about something they touched making someone sick.

Nancy

[ranger]

Thanks all. It's probably cc. From now on, I'll take my own, along with my bag of food. You'd think that in a hospital, you could get something gluten-free to eat, but I can't. By the way, my elderly Swedish Aunt used to put eggshells in her percolated coffe to clear it up. So it does happen, but I doubt in an institutional setting. Have a good one!

[kenlove]

Sometimes they will use the same machine to make flavored coffee then not clean it before making regular coffee.

They also might use a cleaning agent or non-distilled vinegar to clean the coffee machines. The cc is always a pain to deal with!

Thanks all. It's probably cc. From now on, I'll take my own, along with my bag of food. You'd think that in a hospital, you could get something gluten-free to eat, but I can't. By the way, my elderly Swedish Aunt used to put eggshells in her percolated coffe to clear it up. So it does happen, but I doubt in an institutional setting. Have a good one!