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

I've decided that after air, water, and dirt, the next most common
substance on the planet must be gluten.  :-)

While in theory I know the Pintos and Cheese at Taco Bell are supposed
to be GF, in reality I think they're not.  They made a good, fast, hot,
and inexpensive lunch out on busy days.  However, I kept getting skin
reactions after eating them.  After a period of trying not to believe
there was a connection, I decided that maybe the food prep people got
flour from their hands on the cups and that I was somehow getting it
into my nose or mouth while eating.  It seemed far fetched, but I didn't
know what else to think.

A few weeks ago at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston I got to see
the real problem with my own eyes.  From the ordering counter I could
see the prep area and there was a natural back light from a window above
and behind the person working in preparation.  Just before making my
cups of beans she made a couple of somethings with flour tortillas.  She
then clapped her hands up and down in that motion that means "Well
that's done, let's move on to the next thing," and a cloud of flour was
clearly visible flying off of her hands, and settling all over the food
and condiments below, as illuminated by the light coming in the window
behind her.

Also in relation to the cheddar cheese on those beans, I've wondered
about the controversy about annatto color, which is used in virtually
all cheddar cheese, and whether it is manufactured in a way that is GF.

I don't know for sure about the annatto, but I saw the cloud of flour
flying off that woman's hands with my own eyes and do believe that.

Toni Nolte
Overland Park, Kansas, USA, Earth