Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

What's Really Edible At Fast Food Places?

violentlyserene

Recommended Posts

Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

Sorry, but I just got Open Original Shared Link

French Fries:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid

pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to

preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.

*(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

It's that natural beef flavor that gives McD's fries their distinctive taste, but unfortunately, we can't eat it. BTW, TBHQ is a Open Original Shared Link that has some rather nasty side effects.

So sorry teacherkd, but McD's fries and hashbrowns ARE considered gluten free. All the Celiac Associations support that position.

In an effort of full disclosure, McD's has posted honestly. What you need to know is that hydrolyzed wheat is processed to the point of rendering it gluten free, below what is considered safe for people with Celiac Disease to consume. They are cooked in dedicated fryers.

This is a frequent topic and one that will go down in the record books around here! Eat them if you feel comfortable, or don't. Cross contamination is a risk at all fast food restaurants..far greater than the hydrolyzed wheat.

I do enjoy the fries from time to time. :)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

Wendy's has some nice gluten free options.

Open Original Shared Link

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

Once upon a time, the beef flavor in McDonalds fries was actually derived from beef tallow. McD never advertised the fries as vegetarian, but some people assumed they were. Lawsuits were filed. Moving on.

Today, the beef flavor is "natural" in that it is derived from natural ingredients, not a chemistry lab. It contains derivatives from wheat and milk.

The flavor is a very small portion of the oil in which the potatoes are partially fried at the plant. A small amount of the oil is absorbed during that process. The fries are frozen and then shipped to your local McD outlet. There, the frying is completed in pure vegetable oil in dedicated fryers. The finished product has been tested independently and contains no detectable gluten using the most sensitive test available today.

As Lisa said, they are generally accepted as safe. If you are worried about the undetectable gluten in them, then you should absolutely dread the risk of cc in McD or any other fast food establishment.

I eat the fries from time to time, and also the hash browns (which share the same fryer and oil).

sarahbella636 Newbie
sarahbella636
Posted

Thanks for the info on McDonald's fries. I always assumed they were a no-no but this is something to consider!

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

My mom was a taste tester years ago ( about 30) when McDs wanted to change from the beef fat version of fries. She said everyone liked the new version and they seemed pleased about it. This was a time when veggie oils were considered healthier and cheaper and better shelf life. That's why they put flavoring on them during the first " cooking".

I haven't tried McD fries since gluten-free because at least 80% of the time pre gluten-free, they were soggy & disappointing. I love Ore Ida Crinkle Fries in the oven. Probably a lot iless fat, too.

BethM55 Enthusiast
BethM55
Posted

I recently downloaded an app to my DroidX phone, called Find Me Gluten Free. It was free to download. It'll find places that offer gluten free menus or products for you. We'll be out and about this weekend, so I plan to make good use of it then.

cap6 Enthusiast
cap6
Posted

I used to have a potato at Wendys and have never been sick but.... I watch they pull the potatoes and don't know what they touched before and who wrapped the potatoes and...and...and.. There is just too much gluten flying around in these places for me to want to take a chance any more. I will go to a chain place like Outback or Red Robin but just won't do fast food any more.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Bubba's Mom Enthusiast
Bubba's Mom
Posted

We went to Red Robin for the first time last night. I asked for the gluten free menu and ordered a bacon cheese burger plain-no bun and a wedge of lettuce with dressing, and mandarin oranges. I told the waitress I needed gluten free and asked if the kitchen was aware of cc. She assured me that I was in good hands and that my food would come in a special "basket".

My food came and was a burger patty wrapped in a lettuce leaf, and oranges. Both were on a regular plate. It was brought by a different waitress. I told her it wasn't what I ordered and repeated the order to her. She brought back a patty with cheese..no bacon and a lettuce wedge with dressing.

I asked if she could bring me the bacon and she took the plate back..and came back with the right thing.

After a bit the original waitress came over and told me I ordered the wrong thing. I asked for a plain patty with cheese/bacon and a lettuce wedge with dressing.

Can anybody more experienced with Red Robin tell me what I did wrong? :(

RacerX35 Rookie
RacerX35
Posted

They must have had the problem taking the order. My family and I just recently went to a Red Robin (and this was the first time I'd gone to one in a year and a half)and I too asked for a gluten free menu. The menu was a different color so when the waitress arrived she instantly said said, "Oh, you have a food allergy.". I ordered and my burger came out as they stated, on a special plate that was a different color than all the other ones in the restaurant at the time. Just seems that some places are run better than others. I've gone to a few sushi and japanese steak houses and they have been able to accomodate as I needed, seperate cooking and a couple even had gluten free soy sauce on hand. Usually I bring my own soy sauce. Hopefully this was just a poorly run restaurant and the others you may go to are more aware and take your order correctly.

Good luck! :D

Ray

Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

There have been some concerns lately about California Pizza Kitchen and CC. I don't have one in my area. You might like to read Open Original Shared Link

Wow! That's not good at all!

violentlyserene Rookie
violentlyserene
Posted
  • Author

We went to Red Robin for the first time last night. I asked for the gluten free menu and ordered a bacon cheese burger plain-no bun and a wedge of lettuce with dressing, and mandarin oranges. I told the waitress I needed gluten free and asked if the kitchen was aware of cc. She assured me that I was in good hands and that my food would come in a special "basket".

My food came and was a burger patty wrapped in a lettuce leaf, and oranges. Both were on a regular plate. It was brought by a different waitress. I told her it wasn't what I ordered and repeated the order to her. She brought back a patty with cheese..no bacon and a lettuce wedge with dressing.

I asked if she could bring me the bacon and she took the plate back..and came back with the right thing.

After a bit the original waitress came over and told me I ordered the wrong thing. I asked for a plain patty with cheese/bacon and a lettuce wedge with dressing.

Can anybody more experienced with Red Robin tell me what I did wrong? :(

What a frustrating experience! It was really rude to tell you that you ordered the wrong thing. I've never had any sort of service issue with Red Robin so I'm hopeful for my local one but we'll see how well that holds up.

Rosey321 Newbie
Rosey321
Posted

Arby's has a salad that I would rate as the best fast food salad - at least at my nearby Arby's, it is fresh, the roasted chicken on top is flavorful and I really like the honey mustard dressing. Their jamoca shakes are also gluten-free.

Another good fast food place is In-n-Out Burger - they will serve your burger in a nifty lettuce wrap and the fries are safe because they don't cook anything else in their fryers.

A lot of fast food pizza places now have gluten-free crust pizza - Streets of New York, California Pizza Kitchen, Barro's (I think). Subway will make your sandwich in a bowl as a salad and I like that you get to see what they put in your salad.

Fast food places are tough - the choices are really limited. I download all the gluten-free menus that I can think of, am adding new ones frequently, and keep them handy as my husband likes to stop for fast food when we are out. Having the menu in front of me helps and I don't have to memorize each place's offferings. . . .

Good luck-

Lilith

I did not know about the jamoca shake being gluten free. I love jamoca shakes and I am just a few weeks into being gluten free. You are my new best friend!! Has anyone tried the Amys frozen meals? Some are gluten free like the tamolie (sp). It is like eating real food again : > )

Gfreeatx Apprentice
Gfreeatx
Posted

I did not know about the jamoca shake being gluten free. I love jamoca shakes and I am just a few weeks into being gluten free. You are my new best friend!! Has anyone tried the Amys frozen meals? Some are gluten free like the tamolie (sp). It is like eating real food again : > )

When I was first diagnosed I used to devour Amy's Cheese Enchilada dinner. It tasted so good to me. Unfortunately though I noticed after awhile that I started to have a reaction after eating it so I haven't had one in about 8 months. I know some of the other people on the forum have mentioned a problem as well with some of Amy's products. Not sure if they just have some cc issues in manufacturing or if I am just really sensitive.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,963
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    AlissaW
    Newest Member
    AlissaW
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      If black seed oil is working for his Afib, stick to it, but if not, I can say that ablation therapy is no big deal--my mother was out of the procedure in about 1 hour and went home that evening, and had zero negative effects from the treatment. PS - I would recommend that your husband get an Apple watch to monitor his Afib--there is an app and it will take readings 24/7 and give reports on how much of the time he's in it. Actual data like this should be what should guide his treatment.
    • Jacki Espo
      Covid caused reoccurrence of DH without eating gluten

      By Jacki Espo · Posted

      This happened to me as well. What’s weirder is that within a couple hours of taking paxlovid it subsided. I thought maybe I got glutened but after reading your post not so sure. 
    • Mari
      New Celiac Mama in My 30s

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Tiffany. Thank you for writing your dituation and  circumstancesin such detail and so well writte, too. I particularly noticed what you wrote about brain for and feeling like your brain is swelling and I know from my own experiences that's how it feel and your brain really does swell and you get migraines.    Way back when I was in my 20s I read a book by 2 MD allergist and they described their patient who came in complaining that her brain, inside her cranium, was swelling  and it happened when she smelled a certain chemical she used in her home. She kept coming back and insisting her brain actually swelled in her head. The Drs couldn't explain this problem so they, with her permission, performed an operation where they made a small opening through her cranium, exposed her to the chemical then watched as she brain did swell into the opening. The DRs were amazed but then were able to advise her to avoid chemicals that made her brain swell. I remember that because I occasionally had brain fog then but it was not a serious problem. I also realized that I was becoming more sensitive to chemicals I used in my work in medical laboratories. By my mid forties the brain fog and chemicals forced me to leave my  profession and move to a rural area with little pollution. I did not have migraines. I was told a little later that I had a more porous blood brain barrier than other people. Chemicals in the air would go up into my sinused and leak through the blood brain barrier into my brain. We have 2 arteries  in our neck that carry blood with the nutrients and oxygen into the brain. To remove the fluids and used blood from the brain there are only capillaries and no large veins to carry it away so all those fluids ooze out much more slowly than they came in and since the small capillaries can't take care of extra fluid it results in swelling in the face, especially around the eyes. My blood flow into my brain is different from most other people as I have an arterial ischema, adefectiveartery on one side.   I have to go forward about 20 or more years when I learned that I had glaucoma, an eye problem that causes blindness and more years until I learned I had celiac disease.  The eye Dr described my glaucoma as a very slow loss of vision that I wouldn't  notice until had noticeable loss of sight.  I could have my eye pressure checked regularly or it would be best to have the cataracts removed from both eyes. I kept putting off the surgery then just overnight lost most of the vision in my left eye. I thought at the I had been exposed to some chemical and found out a little later the person who livedbehind me was using some chemicals to build kayaks in a shed behind my house. I did not realize the signifance  of this until I started having appointments with a Dr. in a new building. New buildings give me brain fog, loss of balance and other problems I know about this time I experienced visual disturbances very similar to those experienced by people with migraines. I looked further online and read that people with glaucoma can suffer rapid loss of sight if they have silent migraines (no headache). The remedy for migraines is to identify and avoid the triggers. I already know most of my triggers - aromatic chemicals, some cleaning materials, gasoline and exhaust and mold toxins. I am very careful about using cleaning agents using mostly borax and baking powder. Anything that has any fragrance or smell I avoid. There is one brand of dishwashing detergent that I can use and several brands of  scouring powder. I hope you find some of this helpful and useful. I have not seen any evidence that Celiac Disease is involved with migraines or glaucoma. Please come back if you have questions or if what I wrote doesn't make senseto you. We sometimes haveto learn by experience and finding out why we have some problems. Take care.       The report did not mention migraines. 
    • Mari
      My only proof

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Jmartes71 That is so much like my story! You probably know where Laytonville is and that's where I was living just before my 60th birthday when the new Dr. suggested I could have Celiacs. I didn't go on a gluten challange diet before having the Celiac panel blood test drawn. The results came back as equivical as one antibody level was very high but another, tissue transaminasewas normal. Itdid show I was  allergic to cows milk and I think hot peppers. I immediately went gluten free but did not go in for an endoscopy. I found an online lab online that would do the test to show if I had a main celiac gene (enterolab.com). The report came back that I had inherited a main celiac gene, DQ8, from one parent and a D!6 from the other parent. That combination is knows to sym[tons of celiac worse than just inheriting one main celiac gene. With my version of celiac disease I was mostly constipated but after going gluten-free I would have diarrhea the few times I was glutened either by cross contamination or eating some food containing gluten. I have stayed gluten-free for almost 20 years now and knew within a few days that it was right for me although my recovery has been slow.   When I go to see a  medical provide and tell them I have celiacs they don't believe me. The same when I tell them that I carry a main celiac gene, the DQ8. It is only when I tell them that I get diarrhea after eating gluten that they realize that I might have celiac disease. Then they will order th Vitamin B12 and D3 that I need to monitor as my B12 levels can go down very fast if I'm not taking enough of it. Medical providers haven't been much help in my recovery. They are not well trained in this problem. I really hope this helps ypu. Take care.      
    • knitty kitty
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Fascinating.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.