McDonalds Brouhaha

(Side note A - I love the word brouhaha. I learned it from my friend Shelley when I was in college. I had never heard it before. She used to try to fight me and call it a brouhaha. Awww... now I miss Shelley. I just heard from my college friend Kate that she had a baby... I miss old Shelley though because after she had to leave college for $$ reasons, she got a little crazy... Also she decided that she would cure me from being tactile defensive by hugging me randomly until I would hug her back. I don't know that ever worked...)

(Side note B - Robin, the fancypants pasta is Bionaturae pasta. I thought it was good, but upon reheating it wasn't great. It got squishy. That could be a pasta thing and I just don't know it but it is a celiac pasta thing.)

So on with the McDonalds brouhaha...

McDonalds Brouhaha:

For many many years McDonalds has claimed their french fries are gluten free and many many celiacs have believed them. Suddenly there is a report that there is a flavoring that has been derived from wheat. The response from the celiac community has been mixed. There have been 3 lawsuits filed. I've spent some time after work today reading a couple of celiac forums and the response is not what I expected. Instead of everyone jumping on the class action lawsuits, most people are deriding the suits, which gives me a tiny bit of hope for the celiac community as a whole.

The wheat in question... it is in the oil that is used to parfry (pre-fry) the french fries before they are shipped to the restaurants for real cooking. Further, the wheat in question has been processed so that the offending protein has been removed. (All the protein has been removed which means the offending protein, gliadin is also gone.) This is scientifically possible. Vinegar is processed from wheat but the protein is pulled out during the distillation process making vinegar safe for celiacs. Now there were some people in the forums that I read (specifically looking for info from the celiac community, I generally don't read the forums because I mostly think the celiac community is a bunch of freaks...) who are wanting to do a class action suit. There are also some who are cracking me up who claim it all makes sense now and this is why they were always sick after eating McDonalds food. But the bulk of people are against a suit and some have said they've never had a problem... others say now they're concerned.

The reasons most say they are against the suit is the same reason I'd be against the suit. This kind of thing does not help our community. It totally is bad for us since when a restaurant makes an honest effort (which they were. They didn't know about the stuff in the oil. It is only since the new labelling laws started that they found out) and they make an error they are going to be sued. If these suits go through, this could set the celiac movement back years, which is a depressing thought. At least now, I can get a list from a few restaurants and know what's safe and what isn't. If restaurants shy away from that, where will we be?

There has been a test done by a fancy pants doctor who is the head of something or other but allergins is in the title at the University of Nebraska. He has tested the fries. (There is a gluten test that can test up to some nano bajillionth ppm of the protein). There is no gluten in the fries. He has come out and said so. Again I go back to the boards to see what those who want to sue are saying and to see what the general reaction is. Again it is interesting. There are still some who claim they will sue (no case but whatever...). There are some who criticize McDonalds for using fancypants doctor, or who claim fancypants doctor is in the pocket of McDonalds. It is just so weird to me. My thought is simple... Fancypants doctor says fries are okay. Tests prove fries are okay. Where's the question.