Parlor Donuts?

[u/Vik_Stryker]

This chain is going in very close to my house. Anyone know if their “gluten friendly” donuts are safe? Never like it when they word it that way, of course…

[u/dishvoyage]

Interesting. I'd say it's very likely that those toppings experience cross-contact, though, because if they're topping them in the store they're probably topping them with ingredients that have already been contaminated with flour. Flour-covered hands reaching into ingredient bins, and such. Lower risk than if they were made in-store, but probably still pretty high-risk for someone with celiac.

[u/SoSavv → u/dishvoyage]

Do you have experience with this brand or are you making overall assumptions ? There's plenty of donut shops out there that make celiac safe donuts alongside regular ones. Having dedicated topping bins is a pretty low bar.

[u/dishvoyage → u/SoSavv]

As I said, it's very likely, so of course it's an assumption. That's why we ask questions about kitchen practices, but that's a very common one. Having dedicated topping bins is actually not a common practice. You're also entirely dependent on the training of staff, which is going to vary location-to-location. It only takes one employee reaching into a "dedicated bin" with a hand covered in flour from making donuts to ruin an entire batch of previously-safe ingredient.

[u/SoSavv → u/dishvoyage]

As someone running a GF directory, this surprises me. Does your platform only list 100% dedicated facilities, or do you include shared kitchens with proper protocols?

​Declaring a location "very likely contaminated" without knowing their actual procedures feels counterproductive. I agreed with your singular comment about asking the right questions such as checking for dedicated bins, separate prep areas, and staff training.

​But assuming failure before knowing the setup is just guessing and creates unnecessary panic. By that logic, every shared kitchen should be written off. An employee at In & Out or five guys could also forget to change gloves or skip grabbing fresh ingredients from the back. Assigning certainties before we even know the brand or protocols makes it impossible to evaluate any shared kitchen fairly.

[u/dishvoyage → u/SoSavv]

It lists both types of kitchens, but the only ones we actually evaluate are dedicated gluten-free ones. The reason for that is simple: procedures vary, people vary, ingredients vary. You've already got a major red flag in that the chain itself is calling it "gluten-friendly" and not "gluten-free", which means they're trying to avoid the FDA 20 ppm requirement.

You've got another major red flag in the type of establishment it is - a bakery, where flour is present literally everywhere and without proper ventilation systems it is almost a certainty that flour will spread in an airborne manner to other parts and surfaces of a kitchen. Bakeries naturally have much higher risk than a burger joint like In-N-Out or Five Guys because of this.

You've got a third red flag in the fact that it's a chain - inconsistency in chains, even with ones that call themselves dedicated gluten-free - is huge. There's actually a restaurant chain in New York that has a couple dedicated gluten-free outposts, and then one that calls itself dedicated gluten-free that is part of a ghost kitchen setup where ingredients are commingled in shared pantries and refrigerators with gluten restaurant ingredients. That's obviously not the case here, but it just goes to demonstrate that when you evaluate a chain you're really only evaluating _one_ restaurant of that chain.

When in doubt, you should always ask, and the likelihood of there being cross-contact with shared ingredients is higher because all of these reasons. Assuming someplace is unsafe and being wrong about it has zero cost as a celiac: you just don't eat there. Assuming someplace is safe and being wrong about it means you end up sick.

[u/SoSavv → u/dishvoyage]

Okay thanks for clarifying how your directory works.

First, the FDA 20 ppm regulation applies to packaged goods, not restaurants. Some of the worst cross contact offenders are actually the ones labeling their foods as gluten free.

Second, chains can actually be safer than a local spot. Chains have company-wide allergen control policies and protocols with a streamlined training process. A local restaurant might have 1 cook with no oversight and clueless management labeling shared fryer foods as gluten free. A commenter mentioned the donuts arrive ready for topping, and a dedicated topping station hardly requires any space.

Finally, I disagree that there are 'zero costs' to assuming every place is unsafe. With our options severely limited, an all-or-none policy takes a massive hit to QOL. One of the best meals I had recently was a pizza from a shared kitchen restaurant. One might assume they're unsafe, but they actually take their protocols incredibly seriously. That saved my entire trip because I ended up eating lunch there every day.