The Trap of the Universal Fryer

Now a days quite a few places offer gluten free menu items, which is great as long as they are actually gluten free and not severely contaminated.

One of the biggest traps with cross contamination is the universal fryer and this pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Lots of deep fried food all prepared in the same fryer. That means your gluten free food could potentially have been cooked and sat in oil that is littered with flour particles or who knows what else.

Even if the menu has items listed as gluten free, these could potentially be prepared in a universal fryer!

For example, did you know that Lord of the Fries, lists their chips as gluten free but knowingly cooks and contaminates them in a universal fryer that also prepares their non gluten-free onion rings? If you call up or email in and ask about it at head off; they’ll let you know and I quote from email correspondence I received:

“we do not appeal to celiacs or people with gluten allergies , just to people who may want to avoid gluten the ingredient but who’s health will not be compromised with traces of gluten.”

Bravo, Lord of the Fries. Perhaps we should make sure that the people who NEED gluten free food get it and get it safely while we are at it rather than just trying to line your pockets with the money of a diet trend.

Sadly Lord of the Fries isn’t the only place that uses a universal fryer, quite a lot of places do it. Not all establishments will list their food as gluten free thankfully however if you’re looking for a quick snack and see hot chips on the menu you may automatically jump to the conclusion that they are safe.

So next time you’re ordering something deep fried, whether it is labelled gluten free or not, double check with the staff and chef to make sure that they aren’t using a universal fryer that could be dumping a lot of contamination directly on to your food and in turn affecting your health.