<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Back in October, a post (not mine) summarizing part of the CSA national
conference contained this excerpt:
 
CSA> Food news: Leon Rottmann announced that 17 of 31 companies have
CSA> admitted to using French fries with a wheat-starch coating.  He
CSA> mentioned McDonalds as one with this problem, but CSA had to find
CSA> out by analysis, since Ronald McDonald wouldn't comment.
 
On October 8th I responded to this excerpt as follows:
 
B> I have followed the fast food fries situation closely over the past
B> two years, and was very surprised to read this allegation.  I just
B> spoke with my contact at McDonald's (Marisa Fernandez) who promised
B> to immediately research this issue.  She confirmed that the french
B> fries (and their hash browns, also cooked in the same oil) are listed
B> on their internal "gluten free foods" list.  This means that their
B> internal product development group has deemed them to be GF....I will
B> report to the list as soon as I have more information.
 
Later in October, I was able to do more research on Fries in general,
and after speaking with McDonald's bulk fries supplier, wrote on Oct.
25th:
 
B> 1) Generally, fast food chains purchase their fries from one or more
B> of about five major fries companies.  Each chain has their own secret
B> recipe which the vendors use to make up batches of fries.  The oil is
B> purchased from a different set of vendors.  Therefore, for a
B> particular chain to comment on whether their fries are GF, that chain
B> must check with each of their several potato and oil vendors.
B>
B> 2) McDonald's is known amongst the fries vendor industry as a chain
B> which does NOT use "coated" fries.  The ingredients used, at least
B> for this particular vendor, are GF, including the "natural flavor"
B> and "spices" -- however since I was speaking with only one vendor,
B> and he does not sell McDonald's their oil, this should not be
B> interpreted as an absolute validation of McDonald's claimed GF
B> status.
 
Yesterday, McDonald's faxed me their final letter on the topic.  Marisa
Fernandez in the Customer Satisfaction Department wrote the letter, and
told me orally that it was done after checking with all potato, spice
and oil suppliers used for McDonald's Fries.  Here is an excerpt from
the letter:
 
M> ...I researched your questions with both our Product Development team
M> and potato supplier.  They have verified that there is no gluten
M> present in either our french fries or hash browns.
 
While it would only be natural to be concerned about gluten in USA
McDonald's fries after such a specific allegation by CSA, both
McDonald's own research and my backup calls to their Fries vendors
appear to contradict the CSA view.  It appears to me that if a local
McDonald's is cooking fries and hash browns in their own separate oil
and they do not mix this oil with their breaded-products oil at
night (i.e. they are following national guidelines), then they should
be safe for celiacs to eat.
 
Bill Elkus
Los Angeles