Assuming Some Foods Are Gluten Free

[MWIXON]

Hi, I am a new member here and newly diagnosed. One month now.. My question is - can I assume just by looking at some foods are gluten free? For instance, I attended an event a few days ago that had a buffet. Of course I ate some fruit and corn chips but they had a dip with corn, black beans and salsa. It looked gluten free so I ate it. I might should have asked but does anyone else do this?

[T.H.]

I don't tend to. I've learned the hard way that a visual inspection just can't tell where the gluten is.

Chopped fruit and corn chips aren't even safe, really. My in-laws, for ex, cut a loaf of bread and then cut up apples with the same knife and cutting board and contaminated it. The chips can be run on machines that run chips with gluten in the spices added to them. Gluten containing Flavors and malt and such can be in tons of items, from breads to salad dressings to salsas. At buffets, any spoon can be used in something with gluten and then in a gluten free food, or crumbs can fall into the gluten free food and contaminate it.

I react so dramatically that it's easy to tell when gluten has got somewhere, and I have been very shocked (and disappointed, honestly) at how easy it is to get gluten contamination.

[scarlett77]

Yeah if I am looking at whole uncut fruit like an apple then I would probably wipe it down and trust it. But cut fruit and chips, no. You never even know who was handling the food and what they were handling before that. I barely trust my own mother's house. Buffets are a CC nightmare. Bring your own food or eat before you go.

[tarnalberry]

Never assume that something is gluten free. Anything can have gluten added to it, and you can't see it by looking.

[magyar]

Hi, I am a new member here and newly diagnosed. One month now.. My question is - can I assume just by looking at some foods are gluten free? For instance, I attended an event a few days ago that had a buffet. Of course I ate some fruit and corn chips but they had a dip with corn, black beans and salsa. It looked gluten free so I ate it. I might should have asked but does anyone else do this?

Hi, I work in a place where every one is friendly and share food willingly. My question is-do they have the package and can I read the ingredients? I don't trust food in a language I can't understand or read. It has made for some tense situations but over the last three yrs. folks learned. An, 'all you can eat', place is a poison palace. Most of the food is pre-made. My gluten reactions were so fast, severe and long lasting, a week later I would set off a bout of ...well... with a glass of water. No, this is an autoimmune disease and a life style change. It had to be for me. A diabetic would be asking questions. Our illness is no different. I read every thing. I ask questions. When I discovered I had Celiac in 2004, it was 1 in 3000. Now the number...I believe...is 1 in 100? I wish I knew what I had 50 yrs ago!

[Skylark]

I'll eat things like cut fruit or sliced cheese that I can clearly identify but I'm not ultra-sensitive. I pay attention to where the bread/crackers are on a buffet and stay away from the "crumb zone". I do usually take my chances with plain corn chips but I won't eat flavored ones. I don't think I would have trusted the dip without asking, although I will eat plain salsa as I've never run across one with gluten ingredients.

[gary'sgirl]

Corn chips are very often cross contaminated. Even if they don't us gluten in the ingredients they are some times fried in the same oil as other thing with gluten. I don't trust them. I agree with what most people said... buffets are a scary place indeed.

[kareng]

Watch people, especially children at a buffet or salad bar type setting. While I would never let my little one serve himself, others do. Kids and childlike people will use spoons or tongs on many different things. Also, they will carry a tong full of croutons across many other items. They may drop the croutons and pick them out and you don't know the crumbs are lurking.

[Tina B]

Hi, I am a new member here and newly diagnosed. One month now.. My question is - can I assume just by looking at some foods are gluten free? For instance, I attended an event a few days ago that had a buffet. Of course I ate some fruit and corn chips but they had a dip with corn, black beans and salsa. It looked gluten free so I ate it. I might should have asked but does anyone else do this?

I do it that way at buffets. Works out fine for me. I just don't do anything with a sauce or cooked in a sauce.

[India]

Not long after going gluten-free at the start of this year, I was already eating completely plain beansprouts from a sealed bag when I noticed the packet said they weren't suitable for a gluten-free diet, presumably due to the CC risk. Who would have guessed that? It's a ridiculous way to live, but I've learnt to check -everything-.

[i-geek]

Yeah if I am looking at whole uncut fruit like an apple then I would probably wipe it down and trust it. But cut fruit and chips, no. You never even know who was handling the food and what they were handling before that. I barely trust my own mother's house. Buffets are a CC nightmare. Bring your own food or eat before you go.

Exactly. I went to a barbecue recently and was glad I had my own food. People were grabbing whole wheat hamburger buns and then sticking their glutened hands right into the chip bags and fruit salad bowl- enough cross-contamination to make me sick for sure. And even in a situation with foods in separate bowls with serving spoons: people are sloppy. Sometimes spoons go missing, so the spoon that was in the gluten pasta salad bowl might end up in the supposedly gluten-free salsa bowl. Or on a salad bar, someone might have dropped a crouton in the dressing bowl and you wouldn't ever see it.

[sandsurfgirl]

I haven't braved a buffet since being diagnosed 8 months ago. If I do have to go to one in the future I will ask to have something prepared specially for me in the back. I'm going to avoid them as much as possible now that I'm diagnosed celiac for all the reasons mentioned.

It's shocking what things have gluten in them. Grilled meats are the scariest because you never know what they marinated it in. Even some brands of milk chocolate will have rice krispies mixed in even if they aren't the krispy type of chocolate.

[i-geek]

It's shocking what things have gluten in them. Grilled meats are the scariest because you never know what they marinated it in.

Or what they coated it in to get it nice and brown. I was watching an episode of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and at one of the featured diners, the chef dipped all of the burgers in flour before tossing them on the griddle. As far as I could tell, this wasn't advertised to the customers. So even if you went there and ordered a burger grilled on foil, no bun, you'd still have the flour coating.

[K8ling]

I don't eat ANYTHING I can't verify source on. I treat it like a chain of evidence...last night we went to a friends house and she makes the BEST chili and I had a basic idea what was in it but I didn't know if it had been in contact with bread or gluten in ANY form so I just didn't eat anything. It sucks but...it's just safer.

[magyar]

Or what they coated it in to get it nice and brown. I was watching an episode of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and at one of the featured diners, the chef dipped all of the burgers in flour before tossing them on the griddle. As far as I could tell, this wasn't advertised to the customers. So even if you went there and ordered a burger grilled on foil, no bun, you'd still have the flour coating.

Good Morning,

I recall going to a seminar held in a Hotel. I called and spoke to about 12 different people regarding my dietary needs. "Oh, you're watching your carbs,! Another 15 min. I told her I wanted a plain piece of broiled or backed chicken and some steamed vegetable. No sauce, gravy....nothin! On the day after everyone, about a 100 had been served, she notices I have no plate. She brings out a dried piece of chicken and watery green beans. I stuck my fork in the chicken breast and could not get it out. So it stayed. When they came for my plate the fork was still saluting and she asked if the chicken was good. My husband grabbed my knee. I slipped a piece of paper containing the names of the people I spoke to. The head of the rest. who confirmed I had a true dietary problem came out and talked to me. I told her she had my permission to stick the piece of chicken back on the inside wall of the refrigerator as it was not quite fossilized yet. My husband was squeezing me knee!

My sons wedding; the waitress was familiar with Celiac, she said. She brought me a wonderful simple steak... suffocating in lumpy gravy, as the potatoes and some seasoning on the veggies. I returned it to the kitchen and they asked me if I wanted another. So I got one just like it! This time I hunted down the waitress and told her she should brush up on Celiac. She asked if I could just scrape the gravy off to the side.

I did not bother my son on his wedding day. He did ask how the meal...he spent a 1/2 hr trying to explain to the chef was...I did not answer. He was furious when he got to the chef. They don't eat there anymore.

I did not eat my meal all day or tasted any of 7 different beautiful cakes he had. there was supposed to be a small cake for me.

My husband wonders how I can shut down my hunger pangs for days. It's easy, I'm 59 and have been sick since I went of breast milk! Shutting down hunger pangs is the least of my difficulties.

[MWIXON]

Wow, I appreciate all the replies and honestly I really didn't think about cross contamination on the fruit and corn chips. I was worried about the dip! Well I am still learning.

Thanks again for the help everyone!