6/23/07 McDonalds offers many salads made with celiac-friendly ingredients. That’s the only good news I discovered when I studied their website. The rest of the information was either bad or confusing.

  “For people concerned about food allergies, we have consolidated all allergen information into the ingredient statement for each menu item so that you have one current source of information.” That’s where I found out about the salads. When I checked on the French fries, I found the phrase “Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.” Can anyone translate that? I don’t think it’s that bad, since the Celiac Sprue Association has determined that the amount of gluten  in the finished product is too small to be detected,  Why does McDonald’s feel it necessary to contradict them? In the worst case scenario, can't they come up with a flavoring agent that did not involve wheat?

  The google search engine lists over a million entries the term McDonalds lawsuits. (No, I did not read all or even most of them). But I did learn that the legendary suit over hot coffee is still in progress and that McDonald’s is being sued for causing a group of New York teenagers to become obese. McDonalds is also implicated in several cases of high blood pressure. On June 8, the judge threw out some of the arguments brought by the lawyers who were infuriated by McDonald’s refusal to disclose the wheat content of its fries. However, the trial is still in progress.

  "McDonald's is worried about becoming the next Philip Morris….All you need is the right group with the right lawsuit and it could really hurt McDonald's. They are very vulnerable." That statement confused me until I read the entire article. A decade ago, it had never occurred to smokers and/or their attorneys to sue the cigarette companies. Now we consult the Phillip Morris website for information about how to stop smoking. I’m sure that the entire fast food industry is on-edge about what could happen.

  Paul’s Point-of-View: I’m going to stay away from McDonalds until things die down. It’s nice to know that I can survive on one of their salads if I need to, but the fries never did appeal to me that much. Preparing this article did not add to my confidence in Mickey D’s . I’d love to hear your ideas on this subject. Leave a comment at the end of this (or any) article, or e-mail me at gfceliac@gmail.com.