Update on McDonald's French Fries

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Luce sent this to me for posting:

From: Janet Rinehart
Sent: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 06:29:49 -0800
To:
Subject: McDonald's French Fries - the whole story

•McDONALD’S FRENCH FRIES – www.mcdonalds

The HOUSTON CHRONICLE repeated an article today (2/14/06) about McDonald’s French Fries now having wheat and dairy, and listed them on their website ingredient list. Read the whole story below….



I just got off the phone with McDonald's. According to them, the French Fries haven't been changed and are still the same "recipe" that was in use last year. However, one of the processing agents (called par fry) contains wheat. The manufacturer of par fry told McDonald's that the wheat was removed from the par fry prior to use. However, McDonald's states that the new food regulations require them to state that the French Fries (or anything else processed with par fry) contains wheat if wheat was ever an ingredient of the processing agent - and even if it was "removed."

-- Lani K. Thompson, Celiac Food SmartList for Canada; Celiac Food SmartList for USA www.clanthompson.com

(Another example how the new Food Allergen act is confusing.- jyr)



Response from Cynthia Kupper, RD, CEO-GIG (who has worked with Outback and other companies to develop GF menus):

“This is a case of McDonalds following the letter of the law, but without the FDA having the exceptions in place, it is causing confusion. This is a perfectly safe ingredient. People should not be blasting McD for doing what they are told they have to do, but instead forcing the issue of the panfry to file an exemption for their product. (notice that thus far the FDA has not made a ruling on any exemptions filed...that doesn't help). Or, of course, the pan fry company could certify their product. This would mean they are regularly testing the product to show it's purity. The law is good, but the cart was put before the horse.”



Also, remember what GLUTEN-FREE LIVING said about the new label law:

“An unexpected minus has cropped up, though, because it appears there might be times when a label will list "wheat" even if the ingredient does not pose a threat to those with celiac disease or wheat allergies.

For celiacs, the fact that an ingredient can come from wheat and still be safe might seem to contradict the gluten-free diet, which requires avoidance of all wheat­ containing products. However, evidence shows there are some ingredients derived from wheat that are so highly processed, they no longer contain gluten protein when the processing is complete. These include glucose syrup and citric acid.”


Janet Rinehart, Chairman

Houston Celiac Support Group

www.houstonceliacs.org