Need some caffeine to start your morning? Or a midday snack? The Edge is the place to turn…unless you are a gluten-free student.
The Edge is a quick dining option located in both Redifer Commons in the South or Findlay Commons in East. It offers Starbucks drinks and Penn State Bakery items. Customers have the easy option of ordering online and picking up food and drinks at their own convenience. There are conflicting positive and negative attributes to this dining option, especially when considering the safety of students with dietary restrictions.
This quick cafe offers a variety of baked goods, none of which are safe for students with celiac disease. All baked goods are assumed to contain wheat, but safety is even more difficult to confirm since ingredients and allergens are a total mystery. Unlike other Penn State dining locations, the Edge and quick-stop shops appear to have fewer standardized requirements for allergen information. Labels are inconsistent and further information is not available online. This restricts gluten-free diners to only the occasional piece of fruit offered closer to the register. Any more substantial snack, although they look delicious, are dangerous and off-limits.
Similarly, the Starbucks drink menu offers a plethora of drinks, but with no allergy information displayed in person. This creates extreme discomfort for diners who have concerns about specific ingredients or contaminants. 
However, allergens and nutrition information are available on the Starbucks website or app. This requires some additional effort, but it is transparent and accurate. The Starbucks drink menu is also almost entirely safe for students with celiac. All baked items contain wheat, but teas, coffees, and other blended drinks are free of contaminants, providing safe and refreshing drink options for gluten-free students.
Somewhat unrelated to allergen-safety, it is worth noting that the Edge unfortunately does not accept Starbucks gift cards, even though it carries their products. Drinks are also placed in the open for any passersby to take or accidentally contaminate with gluten. Additionally, the Edge is only open for short hours in the earlier part of the morning until 2PM daily, limiting availability.
If you are a student with celiac disease seeking a gluten-free snack, the Edge is not the place to stop. It offers no solid safe options for food, but the drink menu is reliable. If you are craving a yummy drink, whether a light tea or flamboyant Frappuccino in the morning or early afternoon, the Edge has you covered, also allowing you to order on a whim. Because of these points, the Edge receives a 2.5 star GF rating.
References:
Vivienne Booz
February 2, 2024 — 3:50 pm
Several of my families are gluten free, so I really appreciate your blog topic! I recently started working at food court in the HUB, and I’ve been thinking about how allergen friendly campus dining is (or isn’t). I’m surprised that the items at the Edge aren’t clearly labeled for allergen information. Labeling foods would be a fairly simple thing to do and it would certainly safe students with dietary restrictions a lot of grief!
I have a request to make for one of your next reviews. I spend a lot of time working at Soup and Garden in the HUB. I’d love to hear your thoughts on their gluten free friendliness and anything you think that could improve the overall experience.
kac6972
February 2, 2024 — 4:04 pm
It is surprising to me that the Edge locations do not have allergen information readily available. I feel like this would be an easy thing for them to add to the Penn State Go app, since many products come from the Penn State Bakery and Starbucks–companies that already provide allergen information about their products, at least when you buy directly from them. I had also never thought about how the drinks being left for anyone to take could lead to a possible gluten contamination; as someone without a gluten allergy, I hadn’t realized how possible contaminations are present almost everywhere you look.