airborne exposure?

[Guest guest]

Airborne flour would definitely be a problem (in a small, open

restaurant with fans going or air blowing through, if flour is mixed in the kitchen,

it could potentially drift through the air into the dining area). I have

also heard of someone who got sick when her roommate burned a pizza in the

oven. This makes sense since gluten becomes more toxic when it is burned

(there is a complicated microbiological explanation for this which, as I

understand it, comes down to making the proteins more exposed and thus more liable

to do damage). I suppose since tempura batter is fried in oil (and

likely little bits are left in the fryer to burn), the vaporized oil in the air

could contain burned gluten protein, which, when breathed in through the mouth

as you talk, could be ingested. I haven’t heard of this actually

happening and haven’t looked into the science of this particular

situation, so I’m just putting two and two together and maybe coming up five,

but I wouldn’t say it was entirely out of the realm of the possible to

get glutened through burned gluten in the air.

If you got sick after eating at a sushi restaurant, however, I

would look closely at the other possibilities for gluten exposure (I think we

had a discussion on this list a while back about gluten in sushi restaurants,

and there were several unexpected sources of gluten to beware of). Also,

there are many other possible gluten vectors in any restaurant. As

frustrating as it is, you may never find out exactly what happened. Sometimes,

we just have to recognize that a particular place or situation is one to avoid.

Pam

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of

Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 2:12 PM

Subject: [ ] airborne exposure?

Have any of you had

symptoms after just *being* in a restaurant that is cooking lots of

gluten? For example a Japanese restaurant with lots of tempura and soy

sauce and a strong smell of soy sauce and teriyaki? Perhaps say an hour

of breathing their air?

Thanks,

.._,___

[Guest guest]

Sorry you became sick. Airborne exposure is an interesting and somewhat scary topic. Flour can stay airborne for 24 hours or more. I worked in a restaurant during college and frankly can't believe a regular restaurant with a lot of flour floating around isn't contaminated. For example, it is easy to mistake flour for cornstarch. If a cook realizes his mistake after adding a half cup of flour, he's not going to toss the whole batch of food. That batch will have flour in it - the next cook will have no idea. Also, kitchens are not the tidiest places - there's food everywhere. It gets wiped into the trash cans, but not all of it. Finally, some people are more sensitive than others. I agree with Pam. I avoid any place where I get sick. I go to the restaurant chains that I know train their staff well and still speak with the manager when I get there.

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