Educating Family and Friends on Cross-Contamination

     Recently, I had a conversation with my sister about blogging.  I shared my fears of not being able to come up with enough ideas to keep my blog afloat.  She began to burst out with one idea after another.  "Hey Sisssy, would you like to write my blog?"  No, seriously, she did share with me her feelings regarding cross-contamination and how she had not even thought about little things like bread crumbs.

     Educating your family, friends, school, work, etc. about cross-contamination is as important to a person diagnosed with Celiac or Gluten Intolerance as their diet.  Even more so, because cross-contamination can occur without you even realizing it.

     First off, cross-contamination occurs anytime a person with Celiac/Gluten Intolerance encounters something with gluten on it, in it, and sometimes even around it.  Shortly after my daughter was diagnosed with Celiac, my son and husband wanted corn bread with some home made chili.  My daughter was out of the house for the day, so I obliged.  Later that evening, she decided to make herself a sandwich and laid her bread down right where they had been fixing their chili and cornbread.  Apparently, they had not cleaned up the counter quite as well as they should have.  Within forty minutes, Michaela was extremely sick with horrible stomach pain and ended up in the bed for four days!  Just the slightest of crumbs can set a sensitive Celiac/Gluten Intolerance off with unmeasurable pain.  Needless to say, that is the evening that I made the decision that all of us would follow Michaela's diet and there would no longer be anything in our household that contained gluten. 

     Of course, not all Celiac/Gluten Intolerance persons are this sensitive.  According to Michaela's GI specialist, each person's reaction to gluten is very individualized.  What may set off one person with pain, another person may show no symptoms of cross-contamination.  The important thing to remember is that regardless whether or not a Celiac/Gluten Intolerance is sensitive or not, the gluten cross-contamination is still causing damage to the GI tract.

     Cross-contamination comes in many forms ie., using the same knife for a Celiac's bread that you used on gluten bread, sharing a drink with a Celiac/Gluten Intolerance when you are not eating gluten-free, using a toaster that is shared by others that are not gluten-free (there are now toaster bags that you can purchase if you don't have access to a gluten-free toaster), handling gluten products and then handling gluten-free products without washing your hands.  I could list many, but I don't think my blog has room for all of them.

     Another point of interest worth mentioning is flour particles and how long particles can float through the air after use.   In researching articles I have found that it has been documented as low as 2 hrs and up to 24 hrs.  This represents a concern when visiting family and friends that do not have a gluten-free household.

     It is very difficult for a non-Celiac/Gluten Intolerance to fully grasp the issues a Celiac/Gluten Intolerance faces each day when they leave the house.  Just going to school or work can be a frightening experience to a Celiac/Gluten Intolerance.  So again, education is the key.  If you have been diagnosed with Celiac/Gluten Intolerance, it's important to educate your social network about cross-contamination.  You will find that once you have shared this information with them and continue to reinforce it, you will probably get a response similar to my sister's response, "Oh my gosh, I never thought about that!"

     I have included some links to sites that address cross-contamination in their articles.  Please enjoy!  If you have a comment regarding cross-contamination and/or your experience, please do share.



http://mamasglutenfreelist.com/avoid-gluten-cross-contamination.html

http://hubpages.com/hub/Reducing-Cross-Contamination-During-Food-Preparation

http://www.celiac.com/articles/191/1/Cross-Contamination-and-Grain-Processing-Equipment/Page1.html