09/30/2026
I recently saw someone talking about a product that they offered that was “gluten-free”. The person themselves was not gluten free. Their kitchen was not dedicated gluten free, and they made the comment “surely I know how to sanitize correctly, so I believe these do not have any cross contamination”. And I just hung my head. It’s not about people in the celiac community judging your ability to clean or sanitize well. It’s the fact that even just 1 month of baking on a cookie sheet leaves residue that doesn’t come off with washing. Tiny gluten particles. If you bake non gluten free, it’s in your air vents that blows in your kitchen from the puffing of flour that naturally happens when you refill your flour bucket or turn the mixer on. It’s all over your sponges for scrub brushes from cleaning glutenous foods. It’s on your towels where you may have wiped your hands without washing them, which can then spread to your hands when you touch the towel even just to move it out of your way. It’s in tiny crevices on your counter. Inside of the gears of your mixer. In any wooden utensils or porous baking ware that you use (cast iron, stoneware, etc).
Making statements like this hurts the celiac community more than people realize. Because it makes it sound like ANYONE can just run in and bake a “gluten free cookie” or cake or muffin, and all they have to do is a good cleaning on their kitchen, swap gluten free flour for wheat flour, and they’re good to go. Then make statements like “I can promise everything was fully sanitized”. That customer with a promise made either consumes it, being celiac, or a thoughtful family or friend purchases it for a celiac person and tells them “yes it’s safe!” And the celiac is the only one who winds up with the consequence.
Listen. I get it. All the bakers and businesses get asked “can you please make something gluten free?” So they do. But that makes it even more tough for us Celiacs to find truly safe food. There’s “gluten free” food EVERYWHERE nowadays, and less than half of it is actually safe for someone with Celiac OR a severe wheat or gluten allergy.
I’m not asking anyone to stop making gluten free options. But please be very careful with how you word things or make promises, when those promises could potentially make someone sick. 🫶🏻