How Risky Is X-Contamination From Bulk Foods?

[MRM]

we have a giant year round international farmers market about 10 minutes from my house. think of it like the Costco of farmers markets. they pack and grind many their bulk foods in store and you can by tubs of flour, beans, rice, tea, coffee, sugar..... i buy my beans and fresh ground raw sugar from them. i've been concerned about x-contamination for a while but i haven't had any noticeable reactions from them. nearly all the workers have english as a second language so i don't even bother asking them about if they pack the flour in the same area. they do offer tours and i've thought about doing one so i could get a peak at their packing area. would you be concerned about bulk foods?

[misslexi]

I buy things from Bulk Barn, a bulk food store here in Canada (don't know if it is anywhere else). They even have regular noodles next to gluten-free noodles and I've never gotten a reaction from anything there. I buy pasta, baking goods, candy, nuts etc there and have never noticed a problem. But they post the ingredients.

I think it would depend on the situation. I know when I go to the bulk store in the evening closer to closing time there is staff going around cleaning everything, and the utensils for gluten free products usually have special markings.

If you don't have a reaction to it, I wouldn't be overly concerned. Unless you saw something to be concerned about. Like using the same scoop between gluten products, and gluten free. Doing that tour might be enough of a look to get a good idea of how they do things!