What Would You Say to this Café Owner…in 7 Words or Less?

Like that one! Polite and makes the point. You used 8, but if you chop off the ‘I’ at the front, you got it in 7 words!
‘Love the effort, but that is dangerous.’

LOL, Katie – thanks for that!

Might not be that nefarious of a reason (she said, knowing its equally likely it IS that nefarious a reason… but I’m attempting to become minutely less jaded on alternate Fridays) – it could just be desperation. The thought that there are NO good/safe options, the frustration of yet another “nope, not gonna happen” has caused more than a few celiacs to throw up their hands and decide to ‘cheat’. (I’m one of the lucky ones. Even the barest smidge of gluten in/on/around something and within 15 minutes I’ve gone bright red and I’m desperately casting about for a bathroom… and at 30 minutes, my definition of ‘bathroom’ begins to get seriously vague. Trees, shrubs, baseball cap or slow moving neighborhood dog all start morphing into giant Mr Whipples imploring me to go ahead and squeeze the Charmin! Which keeps me on a far tighter leash then the folks who luckily can just have gas, a rash, and/or a foggy headache all weekend. So me saying “No Way” has nothing to do with will power or rising above that folks without the extreme reaction can be tempted by!) The OCA might just be thinking that it’s better to have SOME option, even if there is no GOOD option in the hope. And even that might be some Pollyanna-ing on their part – if enough people go into a business in the hope of a GF goodie, if enough people specifically complain TO specific businesses, it could be the motivation for a company to work harder to partner with celiacs who want to give them money.

For example, a local pizzaria near me here in norther Ohio (USA) only started first researching then attempting to source GF options AFTER about a year of constant hopeful pleas from local celiacs.

There is also the sometimes near impossibility of being 100% sure an item IS 100% safe. From the field to the customers hand, accidents can happen – even in companies that ONLY do GF (and therefore, one would think they would be error proof… and that sadly isn’t the case. Any time a human has their mitts on something, you have to allow for the little gremlins of stupidity to hit) accidents can happen. Someone doesn’t wash their hands, a board isn’t bleached, a knife gets moved from one kitchen area to the other and more. By one saying “Contains no gluten ingredients” a business (and by extension the OCA) can have some coverage from lawsuits and liability is something would happen. Having 100% GF on a label can also lure celiacs into a false sense of security and really, no matter what, no matter how often something has been eaten before, we need to label read to protect ourselves. Giving a bit of flex into the labeling keeps folks checking and paying attention.

Another option that might be the OCA attempting some form of butt covering could simply be they have gotten burned in the past. A cookie company was GF until a week ago, the website isn’t updated in time, and if someone gets sick enough, someone could attempt to make the OCA partially responsible in a court case. By refusing to give Super Celiac stamps of approval to companies, the list makers absolve themselves of any future guilt.

That being said? Politics and all it’s nasty bedfellows could just as easily be the case too.

Annnnddd there my Pollyanna mask bursts into flames. Dangit, I’ll have to try holder to hold onto it. Next time, anyway!

It’s because the CCA has changed their mandate to target all people who avoid gluten, and not just Celiacs. The result, in my opinion, is that now they’re catering to the diet fadders who are perfectly okay with the contaminated cupcake. The CCA seems to have forgotten about the needs of Celiacs – i.e. that we need 100 per cent.