OnTrackCeliac

OnTrackCeliac closed in 2021 after a decade serving the gluten-free community.

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in middle school, requiring me to adopt a strict gluten-free diet to protect my health. I had no idea what to expect.

At the time, gluten-free food was difficult to find. To make matters worse, very few restaurants understood the severity of Celiac; they were not equipped to avoid cross-contamination in their kitchens…

So I started OnTrackCeliac. The site was a hub for gluten-free information, listing safe food products, restaurants, and other resources that might be helpful to the gluten-free community. I worked on the site throughout my teenage years and added as much as I could. Certain pages were more useful than others — for example, a page about the gluten content in 7-Eleven Slurpees was viewed millions of times, while other pages were hardly visited. It was a fascinating glimpse into the information gaps on the internet.

Once I reached college, the world had changed. It became very clear that a crowdsourced site (like www.findmeglutenfree.com) could have a much larger impact with more current information. While I was originally worried about the trustworthiness of these sites, I saw meaningful quality control efforts being implemented. I eventually made the decision to shut down OnTrackCeliac. I’m so proud of the legacy it leaves behind and the community it fostered.