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Gluten Contamination From A Buffet?

itfigures

By itfigures
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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itfigures Newbie
itfigures
Posted

Hi! I'm new here, this is my first new post.... *nervous*

Anyways... This morning I had to go to a breakfast meeting at a convention center, and it was buffet style. I had some potatoes, fruit and eggs whilst skipping all the gluten-y junk. A few hours later, I'm feeling not so good, my stomach's doing okay but I had a mood pitfall, and I'm having insane cravings for bread, cereal, etc... just like whenever I've been glutened. Usually when I eat gluten my mood is the first thing to drop, then the rest of me kicks in later. Has this ever happened to anyone-- a cross-contamination from a buffet meal?

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Mskedi Newbie
Mskedi
Posted
  On 1/18/2010 at 8:57 PM, itfigures said:

Hi! I'm new here, this is my first new post.... *nervous*

Anyways... This morning I had to go to a breakfast meeting at a convention center, and it was buffet style. I had some potatoes, fruit and eggs whilst skipping all the gluten-y junk. A few hours later, I'm feeling not so good, my stomach's doing okay but I had a mood pitfall, and I'm having insane cravings for bread, cereal, etc... just like whenever I've been glutened. Usually when I eat gluten my mood is the first thing to drop, then the rest of me kicks in later. Has this ever happened to anyone-- a cross-contamination from a buffet meal?

Were the potatoes seasoned? I know Trader Joe's has frozen breakfast potatoes seasoned with soy sauce, so it's not all that unlikely that soy sauce could have been used as a seasoning. Also, if anyone used a spoon from something gluten-y and then put it back to where the potatoes, fruit, or eggs were, there could have been cross-contamination.

I've had good luck with buffets so far, but they make me really, really nervous. At work events, I just make sure I'm at or near the front of the line and I watch the people ahead of me. That and I always have my own food with me so that I'm not tempted should anything look questionable. We have luncheons every month and I would say nine times out of ten I only eat fruit from the buffet itself (I'm TRYING to convince people that salads need not have the dressing and croutons already mixed in... maybe I'll convince them someday).

sandsurfgirl Collaborator
sandsurfgirl
Posted

I was thinking the potatoes too. They put pancake batter in omelettes at IHOP, so it's possible they did something like that to fluff up the eggs.

Maybe next time you can call ahead and ask them about what you can eat there, or even that day ask the manager. I'm sure they will accomodate you and help you try to figure out what will be safe for you. Of course there's always the spoon dipped in something else issue, but at least you can make it as safe as possible.

Korwyn Explorer
Korwyn
Posted
  On 1/18/2010 at 8:57 PM, itfigures said:

Hi! I'm new here, this is my first new post.... *nervous*

Anyways... This morning I had to go to a breakfast meeting at a convention center, and it was buffet style. I had some potatoes, fruit and eggs whilst skipping all the gluten-y junk. A few hours later, I'm feeling not so good, my stomach's doing okay but I had a mood pitfall, and I'm having insane cravings for bread, cereal, etc... just like whenever I've been glutened. Usually when I eat gluten my mood is the first thing to drop, then the rest of me kicks in later. Has this ever happened to anyone-- a cross-contamination from a buffet meal?

Were the potatoes fried? If so it's entirely possible they were cross-contaminated. When I used to cook for a living years ago I normally fried/grilled potatoes on the same grill I did Texas/French toast on. Also sometimes if I was doing massive amounts of scrambled eggs I would pour a little waffle batter in when beating them to allow them to stay light and fluffy.

tarnalberry Community Regular
tarnalberry
Posted

Possibilities:

1) seasoning on the potatoes

2) shared cooking surface for the potatoes

3) pancake batter added to eggs, esp. if scrambled

4) contamination from nearby things in the kitchen (bread board near the fruit tray)

5) contamination from other people's plates (or utensils - ick) in the buffet stations themselves

Buffets are notorious for contamination. Not only is it often hard to know how the food is cooked and the ingredients, but it's darn near impossible to be sure that *every single person* who eats at that buffet manages to avoid getting any crumbs in the "gluten free" food.

jststric Contributor
jststric
Posted

Another thought. Food services often use packaged frozen foods and some things like potatoes are often dusted with different flours to helps with thing like sticking together when frozen and also in coloring nicely whe cooked. Some use wheat flour and rice flour is common. I am also rice-intolerant so it's something I've learned to ask.

itfigures Newbie
itfigures
Posted
  • Author

Yeah, that meal definitely is costing me today! Ah, well. It really does make sense, thank you all for helping me with all this contamination info. The more I get into this, the more careful I have to be I guess! No more buffets for me, lol :huh:

I've also had problems with foods that have inaccurate labels, so now my fearful self is sticking to home-cooked whole foods for now! Next time I am definitely sneaking in some of my own snackage!

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eko413 Newbie
eko413
Posted

Buffets make me really nervous too. I'm going to a wedding this weekend and it will be my first trip to a buffet since being diagnosed in November. Does anyone have any tips? I'm going to seven weddings this year, and I want to be as careful as possible. Getting glutened would really ruin the party lol

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