CSA Library Series is a collection of articles that pertain to celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis. Most of these articles have appeared in CSA’s quarterly newsletter, Lifeline, which all CSA members receive. Historic articles included in these resources may or may not include updated notes. Updated information indicated in red type. Articles represent the work of the author.

Cooking Chicken for Celiacs

Diane Craig, CSA member, Sacramento, CA
Lifeline, Summer 1994, Vol XII, No 3, pp 1-2

The question first arose two years ago, in a casual conversation with a celiac friend in the eastern U.S. She asked, "Do you have trouble digesting chicken?"

My first thought was to wonder what the label said on her package or what was in her sauce, but I knew my friend was an experienced and extremely disciplined celiac. After a few minutes discussion, I forgot the matter.

Then the question came up again, this time from the Midwest. Finally I asked about it at our local California chapter meeting: "Does anyone here have trouble with chicken?"

There was one reply, from a mom whose daughter has no problem with chicken at home. The daughter became ill at a friend's house, however, after eating only one piece of chicken, baked plain.

Now it's possible that these instances had nothing in common beyond the food suspected. Sometimes what we think made us sick is not what actually caused the problem, given the variable time lag between gluten-ingestion and gluten-symptoms. Even when we've guessed the food right, it may not be for the reasons we think. We may have gotten food poisoning from spoiled items, or otherwise-okay food may have been contaminated by a flour-covered handler somewhere along the way. And even celiacs occasionally come down with influenza (though, it seems, much less often after diagnosis and treatment than before). Still, I decided it would be good to find out more about chickens.

According to Kenneth May, Ph.D., all U.S.-bred chickens are fed only corn and soybean meal. So, we have absolutely no reason to worry about chicken feed (which in any case is digested and broken down within the live chicken).

What makes chicken-skins yellow? According to Dr. May, this occurs naturally when chickens are fed corn gluten meal* or (rarely) sunflowers. The zanthophyll they contain changes the skin color. No dyes or colors are added to chickens.

According to Bessie Berry, the Supervisor of the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, no hormones are added to chicken. Because chickens are ready to market only forty-seven days from birth, growth hormones would serve no purpose. Although the FDA has approved one hormone for use with large roasting chickens only, it has not yet been used in the industry.

Ms. Berry wondered if one possible explanation for the occasional chicken-reaction among celiacs might be an occasional super-sensitivity to antibiotics. As we know, many celiacs have sensitivities in addition to gluten. Antibiotics may be administered to chickens early in their lives to prevent diseases that might endanger the consumer. A certain low level of antibiotic residue is allowed by law, but it's possible that some people may not be able to tolerate that minor, legal, and considered-safe amount.

Bill Roenigk of the National Broiler Council acknowledged the possibility, but he added that heat kills not only antibiotic-resistant bacteria but also antibiotics as such. He suggested that the occasional problem might be with chicken cooking time rather than with the chicken itself.

Pesticides, like antibiotics, can pass through into tissue and have been suggested as a possibility for problems among celiacs. However, adequate heat over adequate time destroys them as well.

Food scientists have discovered that blood and residues do sometimes remain inside thigh and leg meat greater than 3/4 inch thick in chicken that looks to be completely cooked.

How long then, should celiacs cook chicken? Since my family has had no problems, perhaps one answer is "long enough." We have observed that it takes us TWICE the time the recipes say to barbecue chicken to our satisfaction (although you have to factor into this my husband's frugal use of briquettes). More specifically, the USDA recommends cooking chicken until (1) there is NO pink, AND (2) to an internal temperature of 170 degrees for boneless chicken at 180 degrees if the bone is left in.

*Note to new celiacs: corn gluten is safe for celiacs; it does not contain the gliadin fractions found in wheat and other grains. Be careful when using the term "corn" in countries other than the U.S., however; to Europeans "corn" is a synonym for "grains."