Gluten-Free information for the restaurant industry

The National Restaurant Association is meeting in Chicago right now and one of the big topics of discussion is gluten-free menus.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, a Philadelphia-based organization that promotes awareness of celiac disease nationwide, is sponsoring a gluten-free pavilion where about 30 gluten-free food makers are showing their products. That means the "tens of thousands" of attendees, all of whom are connected to the restaurant business, will get a chance to see what's available in gluten-free form. The NFCA says industry representatives can learn about everything from testing and menu investigation to gluten-free flour options.

The NFCA also conducted an educational session on Sunday, "Gluten-Free:Easy as ABCDE." The session was designed to dispel myths in the restaurant industry that gluten-free is a fad and that it is difficult to offer gluten-free options.

The panel for the session included Anne Roland Lee, MS, RD, director of food and nutritional services for Schar, USA, a gluten-free food maker; Jim McCurley, chef for PF Chang's China Bistro; Doug Radi, vice president of marketing for Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery, which will begin selling several types of gluten-free bread in July; Tom Herndon, owner and chef of Hipp Kitchen and Full Fridge; and Richard J. Coopedge Jr., a gluten-free baking expert from the Culinary Institute of America.

Gluten-Free Living has an interview with Chef Coopedge in our upcoming issue and Anne Lee writes a recurring column on nutrition for us.

Kelly Courson, well-known for her long-running blog, Celiac Chicks, is attending the show as a online media representative for the NFCA. She is posting photos and updates on Twitter and on her website. NFCA is also using Twitter to post continual updates from the show. Here are some highlights so far.

• P.F. Chang's sales are up 130% since the launch of the gluten-free beef menu.
• The loyalty of the gluten-free consumer is unprecedented, according to
  Radi.
• It only takes 1/8 teaspoon of flour to damage the intestine of someone with
  celiac disease, Lee said.
• Evidence builds trust and celiac trust build your business, Herndon
  said.
  

Hopefully, all the restaurant owners are taking notes and thinking about ways they can safely serve gluten-free customers. We have seen a lot of improvement in gluten-free dining in the last few years, thanks to efforts by the NFCA, the Gluten Intolerance Groups and others. Kudos also go to individuals who asked local restaurant owners and chefs to offer gluten-free items. But we still have a long way to go before those who follow the gluten-free diet feel safe and comfortable getting a gluten-free meal at any restaurant they visit.

My daughter, who has celiac disease, has had good luck and bad at both chain and individually owned restaurants. We had superb service at a Bahama Breeze outside Disney in Florida, as well as at the Moroccan restaurant in Epcot. We had a very diligent waitress at an individually owned restaurant in the town where she goes to college who checked menu items and let my daughter know there was unsuspected soy sauce in a chicken dish.

But not long ago one chain restaurant with a gluten-free menu assured her a Reese's peanut butter cup dessert was gluten-free. One bite revealed that the peanut butter cup had a cookie base. When my daughter eats in a restaurant the thing she appreciates most is a server who either knows what they are talking about when it comes to the gluten-free diet or double checks and asks the chef all the questions she asks about a particular menu item.

The NFCA on Twitter asked what is the one thing restaurants should know about serving gluten-free diners. I would say making simple changes, like using soy sauce that does not contain wheat, would create many new options for those who are gluten free.

What would you say?

Amy

Fairway Market

I have been in a grumbling kind of mood about New York…the Times Square incident, the ridiculous taxes and our embarrassing accidental governor. But then something amazing happens and I think “wow” this is a great place to live.

This big “happening” was the grand opening of Fairway in Pelham Manor, NY. Fairway is this colossuses of a market with a huge organic produce section, the greatest fresh pickles, unparalled ethic selections, gourmet prepared foods, a fantastic butcher, fabulous fish and good prices. I did not allow myself enough time to fully explore the store.

The way they organized the grocery section was also a bit unusual. A center aisle divided traditional grocery selections from ethnic and organic selections. Any ex-pat missing foods from home should visit Fairway…I picked up Wine Gums, which are the most delicious gummy candy from the UK.

When I saw this arrangement, I held out hope that there might be a gluten-free section and Fairway did not disappoint. There was a large freezer area with the most diverse selection of gluten-free food I have ever seen under one roof.

There was also a huge selection of crackers, cookies, pretzels, snack foods and pasta in a grocery section that ironically was displayed next to the organic dog food. But, I digress, in all reality I don’t care what gluten-free food sits next to on a store shelf, if I can reduce my grocery store shopping to one stop per week, that is thrilling.

I am picky about my meat, fish, dairy and produce. I cook a lot of meals and I want fresh, unprocessed food. Pickiness plus food issues means that grocery store shopping is a multi-stop process and who has time for that? Fairway is a little out of my way, but for the first time ever there is a store that could be my true “one-stop-shop” market. For a working mom, that’s a fabulous gift.

Kendall Egan

Sunbutter

All this time…all those bologna sandwiches…if I had only known about Sunbutter.

My celiac has two children in his grade with life threatening peanut allergies so peanut butter has been largely discouraged as a lunch item for the brown bag set. If a kid has celiac disease, pretty much every day is a brown bag day!

When I sit back and think about all the processed cold cuts he has consumed in his kindergarten through fifth grade experience, it makes me kind of ill. I have even gone out of my way to purchase the purest, nitrate free variety, but still. When I think about all those days when the pantry was under stocked, and I couldn’t resort to a PB & J, I caused much unhappiness by packing a dreaded yogurt instead of a sandwich. Even with the ice pack, a yogurt is runny and gross by lunch hour.

All this time, a great peanut-free, tree nut-free and gluten-free alternative was right there! Sunbutter is a sunflower seed spread that smells just like peanut butter. It doesn’t taste great straight from the jar the way peanut butter does, but it tastes great on bread with jelly!

I packed my celiac a sunbutter and jelly sandwich yesterday and he loved it. He was concerned because it does smell so much like peanut butter but he just told his friends what it is.

Learn more at www.sunbutter.com. Finally, a pantry staple for those in-between grocery shopping days when I am scrambling to put together a palatable, allergen-free, processed meat-free brown bag lunch.

Kendall Egan

Baking at the CIA tomorrow!

I am leaving in a little bit and heading up to Hyde Park so that I will be bright-eyed for my gluten-free pastry class tomorrow at the Culinary Institute of America. Chef Richard Coppedge, Jr. C.M.B. is going to be our second interviewee of the year and I am the lucky interviewer.

He thought it would be best if I came and participated in the class so that I could further understand what it’s all about…I’m going through his cook book now and I’m really amazed at some of the gluten-free pastries here.

As a huge fan of the Food Network and a pretty decent home cook, I am just over the moon at this opportunity to work in a professional kitchen and learn some new tips. But I’m also terribly nervous because I hate baking and I really stink at baking.

True confessions, I have never baked anything from scratch, gluten-free or otherwise. Buy a mix, dump in eggs and stuff, bake in proper pan and “viola.” Well, I have made Nestlé’s Toll House cookies but that’s a recipe does not involve patience, competence or precision so this is going to be an education.

The interview will run in our next issue, which ships in June. I think it is going to be a really great day.

Kendall Egan

FDA gluten-free survey - This just in!

As hard as it is to believe, the FDA already has all of the responses it needs for the survey on gluten-free labeling. The survey will be closed shortly, according to the research group conducting it.

Here's what Katherine Kosa of RTI International said in an email:

"I have learned that people received an ineligible response not because they are ineligible but because we have reached our quota way faster than we expected. We received an overwhelming response to the survey in the past 24 hours and cannot keep up. We will be closing the survey shortly."

I think everyone is surprised that all the needed responses came in so quickly. (We did have one person who commented on my earlier blog that this seemed to be a possibility) The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness only this morning sent out an email encouraging gluten-free consumers to participate. We first heard of the survey and started promoting just yesterday morning.

I can understand how some people feel they did not have a chance to have their say with the survey opening and closing so quickly. Earlier today it seemed that the problem was too many people responding at the same time. In fact, the problem was too many people responding period.

Hopefully, the FDA will come up with a way for those who could not participate in the survey to have their comments heard. One of the positive things to come out of this is the demonstration that those who follow the gluten-free diet have a strong voice and will take the opportunity to use it.

Amy

Overwhelming response to gluten-free survey may be causing problems

The gluten-free community is responding with such force to the new FDA survey on gluten-free shopping and labeling that some problems have developed.
In short, the 700 responses that have come in in the last 24 hours seem to be swamping the system, according to Katherine Kosa of RTI International, the non-profit research organization contracted by the FDA to conduct the survey.
That might be one of the reasons some people are getting told they are not qualified to participate, Kosa said.
The survey was initially released to celiac research and treatment centers a few weeks ago, but after only 250 responses were received in two weeks, celiac support groups were given the survey link to share with the gluten-free community. Kosa said one group sent out 7,000 e-mails.
I personally have also been urging those who follow the gluten-free diet to quickly fill out the survey and encouraging others to spread the word.
It seems this might have worked too well. Kosa received numerous emails this morning from people who said they were not allowed to complete the survey and did not understand why. She said there were no problems when the survey was first released to the celiac centers and the response rate was low.

But Kosa noted there might be other reasons people are being told they are ineligible to participate.
The survey was designed to collect information from the average celiac and gluten intolerant consumer (including those who shop and prepare meals for someone else who has celiac disease).
It is also interested in responses only from those who buy packaged food and read labels.
"We want people who shop, buy packaged food and read labels. We don't want the person who knows more than the average (gluten-free) consumer" Kosa said. "We don't want the 'right' answers. We want to know what people know."

That means you will not qualify if you work for the food industry or a retailer, a gasteroenterologist, a celiac disease support group, a celiac disease research center or a government agency related to food.
You also will not qualify if you say you do not purchase packaged food or have not shopped for gluten-free food in the last month or say you do not read labels.
Kosa said she understands the frustration the survey may be causing. "We know how passionate (gluten-free consumers) are and how frustrating it is to be told you don't qualify," she said. Kosa noted that she has talked to the FDA about this and the agency is looking into the possibility of enabling those who do not qualify to make comments in another way. There is no guarantee that will happen though.

The FDA will collect 4,400 responses, which Kosa says is a relatively large number for a survey. That will include responses from consumers who do not have celiac disease or gluten intolerance or care for someone who does. These people will be drawn from an e-panel of consumers. The FDA is interested in their responses because of the increasing number of people buying gluten-free items even when they do not have celiac disease for gluten intolerance, according to Kosa.
The deadline for responding to the survey is April 30, but at the current rate the FDA will reach its limit much earlier than that.
So what should you do if you have not responded or have been kicked off the survey as ineligible?

I would suggest you stop trying today until any problems with the survey can be worked out. Over the next few days, things should slow down, and you will probably be able to get through. Once things slow down, you will know that if you are told you are ineligible, it's accurate based on what the survey is trying to find out and not simply a system that is over-worked
Kosa apologized for the problems. I do, too, for my role in urging everyone to get moving to fill out the survey fast. I know how easy it is to forget something if you put it off and I know the completion of the survey will play a role in how quickly the definition for the gluten free label is approved.

I think the response rate is an indication of how important this is to those who follow the gluten free diet. But if our enthusiasm overloads the system, it does not really do us any good.

Amy

Fill out this important FDA gluten-free survey

You can now fill out the long-awaited FDA survey on gluten-free shopping habits. It's available here.

It took the FDA a little more than a year to release the survey, which will help the agency figure out what kind of gluten-free labels those who follow the gluten-free diet want to see.

You can fill out the survey if you are at least 18 years old. It is designed for those who have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies and those who shop and make meals for anyone following the gluten free diet.

The FDA is spreading word about the survey through celiac support groups and it is available on the internet and or by calling 1-877-4GLUTIN1 to request a paper copy.

Questions include:

• the method by which you were diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity
• whether and how often you purchase and prepare packaged food that is gluten free
• the kind of symptoms you experienced after accidentally or purposely ingesting gluten
• how difficult you find following a gluten-free diet
• what impact an increase or decrease in the availability of gluten-free products would have on you
• the quality of advice you get about the gluten-free diet from a variety of sources
• how often you look for a gluten-free claim on a product
• how much gluten can be in a food labeled gluten free
• how you would like gluten to be quantified, either parts per million or micrograms per gram

In addition, you have a chance to look at a variety of labeling options, choose the one you prefer and give your opinion about the safety, believability and clarity of another.

The most important part is that you actually take the time to fill out the survey. The FDA has said the survey would not delay approval of a final definition of gluten-free on a label, but all we know is that the deadline is long past and anything the gluten-free community can do to get its approval moving is very important.

Amy