Gluten-free dining

[GlutenFreeToBe]

Good morning! Those of you who eat gluten free like me, what kind of research do you do on restaurants prior to going out? I'm so new to this and have come across cross contamination a couple times already. Any advice would be great!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

When Mom was diagnosed with wheat sensitivity, we stopped going out entirely. Even at places where wheat isn't obviously on the menu, it pops up in the weirdest places; if you've gone gluten-free for medical reasons, about the only thing safe for you is rice, and even then you can't guarantee that there's no gluten in the sauces of the stuff the restaurant is putting over the rice....

[Lisa Shock]

Here in Phoenix, there is one bakery that does gluten free to european standards. They run a $30 test on every bag or jar of commodities (oats, sugar, honey, etc.) that they receive. They built the place from scratch, so there's no residue from the past. They have a special air filtration system. They have a special changing room for employees, all employees wear cleanroom suits while working. Any new equipment gets washed several times before being used for the first time. Their retail area is completely separate, so that nothing crosses over.

I am not aware of any restaurant here that follows any similar protocols. Sure, some local pizza places have separate areas for gluten free pie making, but, they don't have separate dishwashing areas or any sort of separate air system. Knowing that even the smallest amounts of gluten permanently destroy the small intestine bit by bit, if I had celiac disease I wouldn't trust restaurants with my life. I'd also move to a newly built house, so that as the first owner, I'd know there wasn't gluten sitting in the air ducts, on the walls, in the carpet, etc. -just waiting to be circulated in the air by the AC unit or the mothion of people walking around.