While you shouldn’t diagnose yourself with gluten intolerance, lest you be mocked be the sorts of trolls who get really angry about such matters, there are people who really are gluten intolerant, have a wheat allergy, or suffer from celiac disease. And an upside to the proliferation of gluten fear is these people can more easily access foods that won’t (in some cases literally) kill them. Unfortunately it appears that Papa John’s gluten-free crust is not among those foods.
The pizza chain spent millions on developing a gluten free crust, called the Ancient Grains crust, made from sorghum, teff, amaranth and quinoa, and even makes the crust in an entirely separate and gluten-free facility. Despite all that, the chain can’t guarantee it won’t have gluten on it because it won’t outfit its restaurants to handle the crust separately. So a crust on a cutting board is pretty much a lock to have some flour on it.
This is a strange problem for the chain, to put it mildly. None of those grains are cheap, even in bulk, and they built a whole processing facility and shipping infrastructure without stopping to realize that basically they sell giant discs of gluten. The good news, especially since the CEO of the company is adamantly opposed to affordable health care, is that you’re unlikely to have a true gluten intolerance, so the crumb or two on your pizza will be fine. If you do have an actual medical condition, it’s probably better to just make your own.
(via CNBC)
