Pasta Pomodora's

[lyoung2]

A restaurant chain in Northern CA now has low-gluten pasta on it's menu. I asked what the % of gluten was and she checked with the manager and was told 1%. Am I correct that that is still too much. I thought I read somewhere it's safe under .02 or something like that?

Thank you,

Laura

[tarnalberry]

Any gluten is too much. 200ppm (which is 0.02%) is the CODEX standard, but I do not know what the total quantity is that is considered safe. (200ppm is a density, so, two cups of something with that density of gluten might be too much even for the CODEX standard, but a quarter cup might meet the goal of the standard.)

10,000ppm (1%) is definitely too much!

[nettiebeads]

Way, way too risky.

[jenvan]

wow--what's the point of a "low" gluten?

[skbird]

OK, I'll bite (I live in NorCal) - what chain?

1% it totally pointless. Why would they even bother?

Stephanie

[skbird]

Erp. The name was in the subject line... (I'm slow...)

Anyway, I just looked online at their menu, here's the quote about the pasta (but not %)

ANY PASTA CAN BE SUBSTITUTED

WITH WHOLE WHEAT PASTA (no charge)

OR LOW-GLUTEN, HIGH PROTEIN PASTA FOR $1.00

Oh boy - sub for low gluten pasta that still makes you sick and it's only an additional $1!!! WOW! What an opportunity!

I think it should say "LOW-CARB, HIGH PROTEIN PASTA" because low gluten is no selling point.

Stephanie

[skbird]

OK - these guys win the award for fastest response. I wrote them an email using some fo the info Tiffany posted here regarding PPM, etc. I got this respons about 15 mins later.

Dear Stephanie,

The "low gluten" pasta we offer does not contain gluten.  Please be

aware that the only way we can make sure that this pasta is gluten-free

is if you request it to be cooked in a separate pot of water.  If you

would like more information about the pasta we use, please log on to

their website  www.adriennes.com/pasta.htm.

Ciao,

Britt Brunke

Executive Administrative Assistant

Pasta Pomodoro Support Center

bbrunke@pastap.com

-----Original Message-----

From: Stephanie Bird [mailto:]

Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 9:35 AM

To: Britt Brunke

Subject: question about your menu

Hello,

I was just looking at your menu and see that you offer a low-gluten

pasta. What is the point of that? If you can't have gluten, you can't

have any amount, including the amount contained in a single breadcrumb.

If you have a high protein pasta, you'd be better serving your customers

by calling it a low-carb pasta, not a low-gluten pasta - anyone with

Celiac disease or autoimmune gluten intolerance will still get very sick

from any amount of gluten.

From your menu pdf: <mailto:pasta@pastap.com> ANY PASTA CAN BE

SUBSTITUTED WITH WHOLE WHEAT PASTA (no charge) OR LOW-GLUTEN, HIGH

PROTEIN PASTA FOR $1.00

A friend was in one of your restaurants and asked what the percentage of

the gluten was in the pasta, and was told 1%. Any gluten is too much for

a gluten-intolerant person. The CODEX standard is 200ppm (which is

0.02%), and that is often too much gluten for a person with Celiac

disease. 1% translates into 10,000ppm which is definitely too much!

Anyway, I just wanted to express my concern.

Thank you,

Stephanie Bird

Very interesting.

Stephanie

[tarnalberry]

Yeah, this is definitely a misleading statement on their menu. It may even be worth writing them back to change the menu...

The pasta is made from lentils, and is gluten-free (not low-gluten). I've had it before... it's... eh. Ok. I guess. But if cooked in a clean pot, would be safe for celiacs.

[skbird]

I wrote back and asked if the restaurant staff was trained on what to do with this pasta (as it didn't appear so, from the first post) and got this response:

Stephanie,

Our servers should have the information, however I suggest you speak

with a manager when ordering the gluten-free pasta as they can better

ensure it is cooked separately.

Ciao,

Britt Brunke

Executive Administrative Assistant

Pasta Pomodoro Support Center

bbrunke@pastap.com

-----Original Message-----

From: Stephanie Bird [mailto:]

Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:05 AM

To: Britt Brunke

Subject: Re: question about your menu

Wow, thanks for the quick response! Thanks for the information. It is

exciting to see restaurants taking gluten free foods seriously, as not

many do yet, and those that do have inconsistent results (Outback Steak

House is a very good example, also P.F. Changs).

I appreciate that you offer this pasta and have cleared up the

confusion. Do your restaurants get information about this pasta, and

ways to prepare (IE won't get the blank stare if asked to prepare in a

separate pot of water, etc?)

Thank you

Stephanie

At least he's honest about it.

Stephanie

[lyoung2]

Thanks for checking on that Stephanie. After they said it was 1%, now knowing that this is still too much, I would have let it go.

So, based on what you have all checked on, is it truely gluten-free (provided they make it in a separate pot)? Even though I've been gluten-free for 1 yr now, I'm so used to eating only items specifically labed gluten-free, that all the other lingo just confuses me.

Thanks again.

Laura

[VydorScope]

Maybe the low gluten idea comes form teh gluten in the water fi they dont change it out ?

[skbird]

Probably the low gluten is a CYA, as in, "we probably can't be trusted to do this right, so there's a chance of gluten..." Anyway, given Tiffany's review of the pasta, I probably won't be that interested. I asked my brother's fiancée about it (one is right next to her house) and she said it's a step down from Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill (I've never been to MG, but we do have an OG and it's ok but I've had better Italian). So based on that AND the fact the closest one to me is 90 miles, I probably won't be beating a path there after all.

Still think it's cool someone's trying, though.

Stephanie