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Taco Bell

LauraBeth

By LauraBeth
in Gluten-Free Restaurants

Recommended Posts

LauraBeth Rookie
LauraBeth
Posted

Are listed as gluten free on their website! Open Original Shared Link

I tried one tonight for the first time (chicken) and it is actually really good! Didn't taste like fast food at all really and hasn't made me feel yucky yet. Normally I just get a side of rice. If I could get a couple of these and a side of rice I would feel so happy! Anyone else tried them yet?

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bbuster Explorer
bbuster
Posted

Are listed as gluten free on their website! Open Original Shared Link

I tried one tonight for the first time (chicken) and it is actually really good! Didn't taste like fast food at all really and hasn't made me feel yucky yet. Normally I just get a side of rice. If I could get a couple of these and a side of rice I would feel so happy! Anyone else tried them yet?

News to me but I'm sure my son would like to give them a try - thanks for the tip!!

Anytime I have the chance I try to "suggest" (on-line comments, suggestion box, etc.) to Taco Bell to have some gluten-free foods. Once I even did a marketing survey where they were promoting the Charles Barkley value deals and when it showed a bunch of ads and asked how they made me "feel", I responded that they made me feel sad, because they reminded me how much my son used to love Taco Bell but we never eat there anymore because they don't have gluten-free tacos!

  • 2 weeks later...
bbuster Explorer
bbuster
Posted

News to me but I'm sure my son would like to give them a try - thanks for the tip!!

Well, last night my son went to Taco Bell for the 2nd time in a week to get Cantina steak tacos, so I guess he likes them too! I assumed they would be hard shell, but they are soft corn tortillas with steak and whatever else in them.

maddycat Contributor
maddycat
Posted

I just tried their Cantinas Steak tacos today and they were pretty good! Corn tortillas, grilled steak, onions, cilantro and even a wedge of lime. Pretty much like an authentic Mexican soft taco- definitely the most authentic thing on Taco Bell's menu now! Next I'll try the carnitas! It is nice to have this as an option.

jackay Enthusiast
jackay
Posted

To me Taco Bell spells cross contamination. I normally don't have much of a problem with it but have been very careful with where I eat. Let me know if you are able to eat there and not get sick. I'd love to give it a try.

Frances03 Enthusiast
Frances03
Posted

I happened to go in to a taco bell to check out these new tacos. There is NO WAY I'm eating there. I watched them make the food for a bit. They had 2 lines, the same ingredients on both sides, and 2 people working them. So, the same lady touched EVERYTHING. And by everything, I mean she would grab a flour tortilla, spread beans down the center with a spoon actually WIPING the spoon on the flour tortilla, then she'd stick her tortilla hand in the cheese, in the onions, grab the red sauce, pour that on, and fold it up. About this time she'd reach for a paper to wrap the burrito in. She would touch at least the top 6-10 papers, all with the same tortilla hand! When making a tostada, she'd touch at least 4 or 5 of the boxes, with her fingers rifling thru them as she tried to grab one. While making the new cantina tacos, she never changed her gloves, she touched the corn tortillas, she put the corn tortillas in a warming "iron" type thing that other things had been in, she basically touched everything in there. Furthermore, all the ingredients are spilling all over the place, and the tacos are placed in a sort of "grate" and slid down the row, the same grate the soft tacos made with flour tortillas are placed in. After watching all this for about 5 to 10 minutes, I concluded that there is NO WAY anything from taco bell is going to be gluten free. I won't be eating in there, not one thing is safe. Even the beans that are supposed to be gluten free are totally contaminated. GROSS!!

jackay Enthusiast
jackay
Posted

I was expecting what Mcphena said. Our local Taco Bell is combined with a Kentucky Fried Chicken so there is even more cause for cc.

I was at our local Burger King for coffee this past summer and saw a worker actually touching the burgers without gloves on. No way would I eat there either.

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CalicoSue Contributor
CalicoSue
Posted

I called the Taco Bell customer service line yesterday and the rep told me that none of the Cantina Tacos are gluten-free because none of their meats are gluten free to begin with. Since the soft corn tacos are Gluten-free, maybe we can order them with their beans and cheese instead. There's the cross-contact issues to consider, too. I'm just confused on these new tacos!

Sue

Lostfalls Newbie
Lostfalls
Posted

To me Taco Bell spells cross contamination. I normally don't have much of a problem with it but have been very careful with where I eat. Let me know if you are able to eat there and not get sick. I'd love to give it a try.

Just tried two chicken Cantina tacos last night - I was so paranoid I discarded large chunks of the tortilla in an effort to limit any gluten I may be getting, but was STARVING and inhaled both of them in minutes - NO REACTION, NONE. And I will react if there is gluten, all these folks on here that say they can eat stuff on here which inevitable turns out to have gluten in it, ya I can't do that. If there is gluten in it I will react and I didn't - was shocked but am still paranoid of contamination. What if next time they slap those tortillas down on a counter where they just did a flour shelled taco??? I wouldn't even be able to make it home in time....sigh...but this one time I was lucky! May try it again closer to home ;-)

Lostfalls Newbie
Lostfalls
Posted

I called the Taco Bell customer service line yesterday and the rep told me that none of the Cantina Tacos are gluten-free because none of their meats are gluten free to begin with. Since the soft corn tacos are Gluten-free, maybe we can order them with their beans and cheese instead. There's the cross-contact issues to consider, too. I'm just confused on these new tacos!

Sue

Well it is listed as safe on their website AND in-store nutritional information and isn't that illegal if its not?? Either their marketing department is wrong or that manager is incorrect (they are not always as well informed of what corporate has done or is doing as they would like to be - worked high school is in one), for a nationwide chain I would hope the later.

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Without commenting on the CC issue, it would indeed appear from the TB website that the carnita tacos are gluten-free. And the meat ingredients list no gluten.

richard

larry mac Enthusiast
larry mac
Posted

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think Taco Bell taco meat (not the so-called street tacos meat) contains oats. Probably as part of the thickener. Since oats can be contaminated with wheat, they might be reluctant to call it gluten-free.

Personally, I think the level of potential contamination resulting from this small an amount of oats would be inconsequential (to me). You'd probably get more gluten from the workers handling the flour tortillas.

I handle bread and gluten items on a daily basis (preparing food for my wife). Haven't been glutened once. YMMV.

best regards, lm

digmom1014 Enthusiast
digmom1014
Posted

My take-

Had them twice; chicken-okay, steak-the best, carnitas (pork)-yuck!

I wish the chicken were better but, that's a health-thing, tryng not to eat much red meat. The added fresh lime is a nice acid touch.

I am pretty sensitive to CC and had no problem. It was nice not to just have a bean tostada and rice as my dinner.

buffettbride Enthusiast
buffettbride
Posted
:blink: Taco Bell is up there with McDonalds in my mind as a huge contamination risk. Like, I can actually feel my heart rate increase when I think about Celiac's trying to eat there.
maddycat Contributor
maddycat
Posted

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think Taco Bell taco meat (not the so-called street tacos meat) contains oats. Probably as part of the thickener. Since oats can be contaminated with wheat, they might be reluctant to call it gluten-free.

Their ground beef might contain oats (and I think their hard shell corn tortillas might too, or at least they are made using shared fryers for flour items), but these Cantinas tacos are made with steak, chicken or pulled pork. So I'm pretty sure they aren't adding oats to these. Even on their website, they have a symbol if items are made on shared equipment with gluten containing items, although I don't think they are referring to their employees hands or the countertop where food items are assembled as shared equipment, or nothing would be labled gluten-free! :)

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