Gluten Cross-Contact in Restaurant-Scale Pasta Cooking.

Celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity are provoked by the consumption of gluten from wheat, barley, rye, and related grains. Affected individuals are advised to adhere to gluten-free diets. Recently, gluten-free foods have become a marketing trend with gluten-free options in both packaged foods and restaurants/ foodservice establishments. Pasta is one of the primary gluten-containing foods in diets in North America and Europe. Gluten-free pasta formulations are commercially available. In restaurants, multiple pasta dishes are often prepared simultaneously in large multi-compartment pots, with shared cooking water. The objective of this study was to determine if gluten transfer occurs between traditional and gluten-free pasta when cooked simultaneously. Pasta was boiled in a commercial, 4-compartment, 20-qt. cooking pot containing three batches of traditional penne pasta and one batch of gluten-free penne pasta. The amount of pasta (dry weight) was either 52 g (recommended serving size) or 140 g (typical restaurant portion). Five consecutive batches of pasta were boiled, with sampling of cooking water and gluten-free pasta at completion of cooking. Water and gluten-free pasta samples were tested for gluten using the Neogen Veratox for Gliadin ELISA kit. Gluten levels were low (<20 ppm) in both water and gluten-free pasta samples through five batches at the 52-g quantity. The gluten levels in the gluten-free pasta at the 52-g quantity slowly increased through five batches but never exceeded 20 ppm. With the 140-g quantity, the levels of gluten in the cooking water increased with each batch, exceeding 50 and 80 ppm after the fourth and fifth batches. The gluten levels in the gluten-free pasta at the 140-g quantity approached 20 ppm by the fourth batch and reached nearly 40 ppm after the fifth batch. While gluten transfer does not occur at a high rate, gluten-free pasta should be prepared in a separate cooking vessel in restaurant and foodservice operations.