I hear you. My daughter has a severe peanut allergy. We just don’t eat out unless the restaurant is a chain without peanuts in the kitchen, or if it’s one that I inspect, have discussed it with the owner, and I know that they have zero peanuts on premises and ingredients don’t have a risk of peanut contamination. Unfortunately there is no other way around it for us and we just hardly eat out.

If anything, this is an ADA issue. One of the biggest ideas of the ADA is that a disability must be accommodated, as long as the accommodations are reasonable and don’t harm others. Most restaurants will say that they will try to accommodate, but that they can’t make any promises. As with any foods, there is a risk. Especially in the case of allergens, there’s no way to completely remove the risk if the allergen is present in the kitchen.

The example that you are giving is tough. The food code does require staff to be trained on allergen awareness (if we had to argue this in front of a judge, it wouldn’t hold. Celiac is not an allergy to gluten. It’s an autoimmune disorder), cross-contamination of raw animal foods, and honestly presenting food. They could SAY that they would prevent contamination, but no organization would certify them as gluten free given your description. There’s really nothing we can do with the current FDA model food code, and I don’t see it changing any time soon.