Risk of Cross-Contact for Gluten-Free Pizzas in Shared-Production Restaurants in Relation to Oven Cooking Procedures.

To allow celiac patients to have meals out, a growing number of restaurants and pizzas houses that simultaneously provide gluten-free (GF) pizzas and wheat-based (WB) pizzas have recently been opened in Italy. In these restaurants, GF pizzas are prepared with GF raw materials, following procedures that minimize the risk of gluten cross-contact. Here, we evaluate the risk of gluten cross-contact of GF pizzas in relation to the preparation procedures, thus aiming at identifying a safe procedure for cooking GF pizzas. Our results show that, when specific requirements are complied with, the simultaneous cooking of GF and WB pizzas is a procedure as safe as having an oven dedicated to GF pizzas or the alternate cooking of GF and WB pizzas in the same oven.