<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I attempted to send this to the poster who claimed that blue cheese at Outback
would not be GF, but it bounced back twice. So I'm posting it here.

The contention that all blue cheese dressing has gluten is unquestionably
false, and the contention that the blue cheese dressing at Outback has gluten
is almost without question false.

First, the vast majority of blue cheese, particularly if made in the U.S., is
started on an artificial medium now, not on bread crumbs. You'd have to know
what brand blue cheese they use before you could tell whether it is started on
bread crumbs. Did the poster check what brand they use before coming to this
conclusion? If the cheese is started on an artificial medium, it does NOT have
gluten.

Second, it was Cynthia Kupper of the Gluten Intolerance Group working with
Outback who came up with the GF menu. From all I have heard and from the very
brief contact I have had with her, I seriously doubt she would include the
blue cheese as GF unless she were sure. This is not a case of ignorant Outback
executives trying to sell more product.

Third, and this is not as solid, a number of scientists and people involved
with cheese making seriously doubt (but don't know for sure -- let me be
clear) that starting the mold on bread crumbs would transfer any gluten at all
to the mold. Even if it did transfer a miniscule amount, that amount would be
diluted even further because so little of the culture or mold is used in a
huge vat of cheese. The resulting amount of gluten almost certainly would not
be measurable using modern standards and would very likely be below the amount
of stray contamination in many products. Let me be clear again, this part is
speculation, but speculation by folks who appear to know their stuff.

richard

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