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

On 5/17/95, Jane Davis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

C> In response to the query about teenagers and celiac, call the
C> McDonald's consumer relations dept at 708-575-6198; they have a
C> gluten-free list and the best nutruitional analysis in the
C> industry.  Our daughter, now 16, has eaten beef patties (no
C> fillers),  french fries (fried alone) ..(snip)...  Best of all, McD's is
C> totally standardized throughout the world.. (snip)

Unfortunately McDonald's is NOT standardized throughout the world, and in my
opinion, their French Fries are NOT gluten free in the U.S.  This has become
a pet peeve for me, and I have posted about this topic in the past.  For a
full exposition of the issue, use the search command with to pull the emails
on fries from the archives.  Here is a summary --

Although they TRY to fry them alone in their own oil vat, every single
McDonald's I have ever visited, upon close questioning, admits that at least
once a day they wind up frying hash brown potatoes (which contain wheat
flour) in the same vat as the fries. The Canadian Celiac society was
successful in getting McDonald's of Canada to switch to corn starch in their
hash browns, just to avoid this problem.

I wrote the US McDonald's headquarters with a copy of an article in a 1994
Canadian society's newsletter about the McDonald's switch, and asked them to
switch, too.  I received a reply which claimed there was no problem, because
the heat of the oil supposedly denatured the gluten.  Most celiac groups
would scoff at this theory.  I gave the letter to Elaine Monarch of the
Celiac Disease Foundation (Los Angeles) who called the author and scared the
daylights out of him.  Several other McDnald's corporate types called Elaine
over the next two months promising to look into the problem, but nothing was
every accomplished (at least to date).

Burger King fries come closer to being gluten free in my research, although
even there one has to be careful -- some stores use the same scooper to serve
the breaded onion rings and the fries.  At my local stores, upon request for
NO SALT fries, they will make up a fresh batch and wash the scooper
automatically.

It may seem fanatic to go to these lengths.  I did the research because my 8
year old Celiac son was getting occasional gluten symptoms, which appeared to
get better when we switched to Burger King fries.  Of course, this may have
been coincidental.

Bill Elkus