Thirty-two percent of restaurant foods labeled gluten-free contain gluten, according to a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, reports USA Today. The study found the worst offenders were pizza and pasta, with gluten found in 53.2 percent of pizza samples and 50.8 percent of the pasta tested. The detection rate was higher at dinner, 34 percent, than at breakfast, 27 percent. Restaurant foods labeled gluten-free were less likely to test positive for gluten in the western part of the U.S. than in the Northeast, and restaurants identified as fast-casual and casual restaurants with table service had lower detection rates than fast food restaurants.
The portable gluten tester Nima was used in the study. The Celiac Disease Foundation said that the researcher's results may not be reflective of all gluten-free restaurant food and noted that Nima users may have been more likely to test foods they suspected were contaminated, potentially resulted in a larger proportion of foods testing positive. "However, these results are compelling evidence of challenges of maintaining a strict, gluten-free diet," the foundation stated.
According to the study's lead author, Dr. Benjamin Lerner, the gluten detected in foods likely comes from cross-contamination, including using the same pots to cook gluten-containing pasta and gluten-free noodles. Full Story
Related: Nature's Path Recalls Gluten-Free Cereals; New Online Tool Helps Identify Allergens at Chain Restaurants.
from Foodservice http://bit.ly/2GzXOf7
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