How long does gluten stay on surfaces

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How long does gluten stay on surfaces? If you are following a gluten-free diet then you’ll have to take care of these details to avoid cross contamination

Is gluten cross-contamination serious?

A person who has celiac disease will experience gluten intolerance symptoms flare up when gluten winds up in their meals. There are millions suffering from different degrees of gluten intolerance. Avoiding gluten and leading a gluten-free life will resolve the majority of their issues.

Nevertheless, this is easier stated than done.

However, gluten is present in wheat, barley, and rye so three foods are forbidden on a gluten-free diet. To make matters worse, even food that doesn’t contain gluten may contain traces that will definitely damage your diet and make the symptoms come back.

Check out Conditions require following a gluten-free diet

How long does gluten stay on surfaces?

Actually, the time gluten spends on the surface depends on how you clean it. As gluten is a part of flour containing gluten, so having any traces of flour on the surface can make it unsuitable to prepare your gluten-free meals in the same area. However, it is recommended that you:

  • Wash the surface twice to make sure it is clear of gluten traces that may cross-contaminate your food.
  • Use disinfectants and bleaching materials to give you better results.
  • Use a new sponge to make sure it won’t put on more gluten on the surface.

Also, this advice can be helpful to avoid gluten cross contamination on grill, as it can be harder to clean.

However, after preparing meals with flour, it can stay in the air for about 12 hours to one day. Even though, time gluten can stay in the air may differ because of multiple factors like kitchen ventilation. Anyway, if you are gluten-sensitivity can be flared up by tiny amounts of flour containing gluten in the air, then, it’s better not to enter the kitchen for the next 24 hours.

Nevertheless, not all people have the same level of gluten sensitivity. As some won’t be affected negatively by being exposed to gluten-traces. So in that only case, they don’t have to be extensively cautious.

Why may gluten-free life be challenging?

  1. For beginners, there will be a huge misunderstanding of this diet. You must make sure your food does not comprise gluten. You must check out food labels, discover gluten-free alternatives,… etc. 
  2. Then, there is the problem of quitting lots of comfort foods you love such as cakes, ice-creams, potato chips, and so on. These foods might contain hidden gluten like wheat-based flavoring or fillers and mostly consist of wheat.
  1. It will absolutely affect many individuals when they find that the gluten-free diet won’t allow them to eat their favorite foods once more because of their gluten intolerance.
  1. Having slight traces of gluten on your gluten-free food, which is what we call cross-contamination 

Check out how to cut out gluten totally from your diet plan.

What is the Gluten Cross-contamination? And how to avoid it?

Cross-contamination happens when gluten-containing foods end up mixed with gluten-free foods. This can occur for many reasons Some related to the manufacturing of the product itself like handling some factories foods that don’t contain gluten in the same machines that produce foods containing Gluten.

The FDA subjects all gluten-free food to quality standards, which makes it hard for companies to label foods containing traces of gluten to label them as gluten-free food.

However, there is still some risk that your gluten-free food will become contaminated, but by taking some simple measures, you can avoid this cross-contamination

Check out 5 mistakes to avoid on gluten-free diet

1. Keep all your tools clean;

Thoroughly wash and clean utensils, breadboards, chopping boards, etc. Anytime one specific thing is used for both types of foods, the possibility of cross-contamination increases.

For example, when someone uses a knife to cut wheat bread might still have little crumbs on it. If a gluten intolerant person used that same knife to cut an apple, he might not expect to get some crumbs on the apple which they will eat.

So, you should wash all utensils prior to use.

2. Use different containers to avoid Gluten Cross-contamination

Besides using different containers, make sure you seal these gluten-free containers well and that they only contain only comprise foods that are gluten-free. 

3. Never share butter, jam, and so on;

Because of the high possibility of somebody else contaminates them.

4. Label all foods in your fridge;

Label all foods in your fridge once you eliminate them from their original packs. Infact, it becomes very easy to misplace your food by others at your house. If you live alone, you do not have such problems.

If you have household members and they are not gluten intolerant, their actions may affect you.

5. Never share toasters, ovens, and grills before cleaning them;

These utensils need regular cleaning before putting your toast in. If someone used the grill to grill some sausages, the wheat-based filler in the sausages might still linger on the grill. 

Obviously, marinades, flavoring, etc. will likewise be there and most of them will have wheat-based ingredients. Wash them all well prior to usage.

Check out 5 Quick Satisfying Gluten-free Snacks

6. Avoid gluten cross contamination in fryers;

Avoiding deep frying cross contamination is one of the things individuals forget. They reuse oil and believe that it’s harmless. If somebody in the family fries a burger patty in oil, there will be breadcrumbs, fillers, and so on that will end up in the oil. There is a high opportunity that these comprise gluten.

If you then continue to fry your gluten-free burger patty and think all is ok, you’re spoiling your gluten-free meal. 

The oil can contaminate your food with gluten if you used it before to fry foods like coated chicken. If so, then, it’s necessary to use separate oil for your cooking.

Conclusion;

These are just 5 ways that cross-contamination might occur and you can control it in your home. There are a lot more ways.

However, you should be alert to the possibility of it happening. In this way, you will be better ready and lower any opportunities of getting gluten in your diet without knowing.

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