Yep. I am super careful about peanuts. So far it is only if I eat them. We’ve had kids at school who cannot even smell peanut butter without having a reaction.
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On the old menu the explanation we got was indeed the pearls having a risk of cross contamination since they were not prepared onsite. The old menu desserts were available without the pearls if one wanted, hopefully that’s still the policy with the new menu…
This is a problem not just for the restaurateurs, but also for the general public. People decide to go on gluten-free fad diets without justification, and as a result there starts to become a blur between true gluten sensitivity and celiac disease versus wheat allergies, etc.
My daughter-in-law grew up with a wheat allergy. (My oldest son was allergic to wheat until about 3 years old.) Her father actually has celiac disease. So, she spent her life eating gluten free. But when she started dating our son, she admitted that she can eat things with gluten just not wheat. I then introduced her to spelt (which I believe farro is related to). While it is technically wheat, it is non-hybridized and people who are allergic to wheat actually often are NOT allergic to spelt. So, I went back to getting bleached spelt flour and doing some baking as I had done with my son. To my daughter-in-law’s pleasant surprise, she did not react to it at all!
Anyhow, I say all this to say that the server at Royal Caribbean apparently doesn’t understand the difference between a wheat allergy and true gluten allergy/celiac. And even SOME people with asymptomatic celiac disease may be able to “safely” eat farro without any obvious gastro issues…but it is playing with fire, since it is still causing damage without any immediate reaction.
I doubt that anyone with celiac disease can ever TRULY eat at WDW even from a supposed GF menu because it is doubtful they are protecting for cross-contamination in the kitchen. One “poof” of flour while cooking something else can contaminate a surface or nearby foods without even knowing it.
BUT, the GF menus are probably “safe enough” for those with a minor gluten sensitivity or wheat allergy, or just those trying to avoid gluten for who knows what reason!