Silk Consumer Feedback RE: Allergy Control Protocol

I just posted a blog about a Silk product, Silk Coconut Milk.  

I have received feedback from readers regarding their concern with this company's allergen control protocol.  Although this response is directed at a Soymilk inquiry, I believe their processes stand true for the handling of all of their products.

Here is a personal response I received to my personal inquiry with the company itself.  As a parent of children with multiple allergies, including anaphylaxis to nuts, I truly appreciate the time which was taken to address my concerns.

Between this and the link to their 'allergies, dietary restrictions and safety' FAQs page, I hope this will help others make better educated decisions for their family's needs.  


Thank you for contacting us about Silk® Soymilk.We take allergenic food concerns seriously, and have instituted allergen control programs at each facility manufacturing the Silk Pure Almond and Soymilk products. Our allergen control programs consist of several components, designed to comprehensively address allergenic food concerns at multiple points of production. Examples of this program include the following:

1. Supplier control – each ingredient used in production goes through steps to ensure quality and purity.

2. Cleaning procedures – validated procedures to ensure effective clean and rinse is accomplished after each production run.

3. Allergen-free product testing – testing in-process and finished product at frequent intervals to ensure safety.

4. Storage/warehouse – allergen status labeling and isolation of ingredients to ensure no cross-contamination occurs.

5. Production scheduling - scheduling of product runs are done in a manner that ensures allergen-containing products are run only after non-allergen containing products, protecting the immediate subsequent product from contamination risk.

Food safety is our highest priority and as part of our commitment to quality, all employees involved in the manufacturing of Silk have a comprehensive awareness of food allergen concerns.We hope this information is helpful.Sincerely,
Reyna Rivera
Consumer Response Representative

Snapea Manufacturing Feedback... Info to help you decide if this is a possibility for your allergy~free home

A few months ago, I wrote a post,  Snapea Crisps - What a delicious snack from Calbee America, one of my family's all time favorite snacks.  


Their labeling has changed over the past few months with the addition of the 'made in a facility that also manufactures....'.  I had some questions regarding their manufacturing processes and the concern of possible cross contamination of allergens.  Below is taken from my email to the company:

• "I am hoping to get more information from your company as to what cleaning processes you have in place or protocol you may follow to try to prevent cross-contamination of products.  Many families will not even consider buying this product as soon as they see the statement 'made in a facility that also manufactures.....'.  As a family who manages dairy allergies, we have never had a problem with this product.  Is this allergen statement fairly new?"

A representative from their company had gotten back to me in a timely matter.  However, it is I, who let time get away from me in sharing the feedback I received.  For those of you deciding whether this is a product you want to consider, hopefully, the following feedback will help you in making your decision. 

Hello Daniella,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our Snapea Crisps allergen control. 

We receive many inquiries and are delighted to report that Original Flavor Snapea Crisps do not contain any ingredient or ingredient components made from wheat, rye, barley or milk products.

As you may be aware, we also manufacture a similar product called Snapea Crisps Caesar,  You should be aware that this product does contain dairy components.  In addition, we also have other wheat-based snacks that are made on the same manufacturing plant.  As part of our Allergen Control Program (this include employee training, employee sanitation/cleaning training, separate storage space for allergen ingredients), we only schedule manufacturing of our Snapea Originals after a full clean-up of our manufacturing line to help control allergens that might contaminate the Original Flavor Snapea Crisps. 

Our package must state allergen warnings according to FDA packaging label guidelines, even if it may be a minimal exposure.  We understand your clients’ concern but unfortunately we can’t guarantee 100% allergen free manufacturing environment.

Thank you for contacting us and hope this information will help you and your clients.

If you have any other questions, please contact me anytime.

Sincerely,

Fumie Mihaly

Calbee America, Inc.

ATTENTION: Jelly Belly Candy Corn Repost - NOT TREE-NUT FREE but IT IS Gluten-Free, Milk-Free, Egg-Free, PEANUT- Free!

Yesterday I posted a blog about a candy corn I am hoping to try out for the Halloween season which I was informed was gluten-free, milk-free, egg-free, peanut-free and NUT-free. 

Turns out they are gluten-free, milk-free, egg-free and peanut-free but NOT guaranteed to be TREE NUT-FREE.  An important clarification for those of us managing tree-nut allergies.

I commend the Consumer Affairs department for getting back to me so quickly so that I can share update to date and correct information.  This blog is a bit long but I thought it was important to have all of the CORRECT INFO in one place.

For this reason, I am reposting this blog with some important clarifications per speaking with Kit McCoy, a Consumer Affairs Manager, with Jelly Belly.  She profusely apologized for any errors in the information previously sent to me. 

These candy corn are gluten-free, milk-free, egg-free, AND peanut-free due to the fact that Jelly Belly is now PEANUT FREE.  All Confections by this particular company are certified OU Kosher by the Orthodox Union, including these candy corn.  Unfortunately, they do contain modified soy protein.

Jelly Belly Candy Corn!  Yes, from the makers of the well known gourmet jelly beans, Jelly  Belly.

Ingredients include: SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF THE FOLLOWING:  MODIFIED SOY PROTEIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SORBITOL, COLOR ADDED, YELLOW 6 LAKE, YELLOW 5, RED 3, BEESWAX, CARNAUBA WAX, CONFECTIONER'S GLAZE, SALT.

As I haven't tried these out yet... I can't even seem to find them locally, I don't have and can't find a specific ingredient list for the candy corn.  You can order them online.

For more information, contact:  http://www.jellybelly.com/ or 1-800-JB-BEANS (1-800-522-3267)

Their webpage is great.  In addition to typical links, it also a VISITOR CENTER detailing information regarding their facilities, FUN STUFF which includes coloring pages for kids, IDEAS for baking and decorating during special occasions/holidays.

Here is some extra information I received per Kit: 

• It appears there had been a VERY recent change of using MODIFIED SOY PROTEIN in place of the SOY LECITHIN, as in a two day change! I have made those changes throughout this blog.
• The candy corn is NOT considered to be 100% nut-free. They do NOT use tree nuts in the manufacturing process, HOWEVER, (as is stated below) Candy Corn is made on the same line as our Coconut Jelly Belly flavor and is Polished on the same equipment in panning with milk containing chocolate and wheat (licorice centers) and nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews). We pack them on the same equipment as Chocolate Malt Balls, Chocolate Raisins, chocolate nuts, Licorice Pastels.

I had asked for clarification regarding, whether Jelly Belly could could say “Our Candy Corn is gluten free, dairy free, peanut free, and nut free” since it shares equipment.

• Per Kit:  They are definitely “peanut free” because we do not manufacture peanuts in our factory. Candy Corn does not include dairy, gluten or nuts in the recipe. However, Candy Corn shares the same polishing and packaging equipment as candy with these allergens.
• Our allergen policy is stringent and we follow Good Manufacturing Practices. Any equipment, tray or utensil used for any product contain an allergen is tagged with an "allergen tag". Everything is thoroughly cleaned and documented in an allergen log and must be inspected and signed off by a supervisor prior to the next use.
• A Quality Assurance technician checks against production schedule to assure that all cleaning/reports were done. All Jelly Belly Candy Company employees working in the factory have yearly allergen training during the plant shutdown.

Do some of your remember eating peanut butter flavored jelly beans in the past? Well, Jelly Belly stopped manufacturing PEANUT jelly beans/products on June 26, 2009. The shelf life for these products is two years.

What does this mean for you and I? Although it is highly unlikely, there could be a stray bag or two of jelly beans containing a peanut butter jelly bean so be sure to read the labels to make sure you don't have an OUT OF DATE bag.
Tomi Holt from Media Relations ensured me these items are EGG-FREE as this labeling doesn't seem to be available. Of course, I suggested they add this information to appeal to the many of us managing this particular allergy.

This is information from the initial email response I received from Scott, with Consumer Affairs with the information corrected. I highlighted certain areas I thought would be of particular interest.

• Thank you for your interest in our Jelly Belly Candy Corn.
• Our Candy Corn is gluten free, egg free, dairy free, AND peanut free.  It is also "OU Kosher" certified. It does contain MODIFIED SOY PROTEIN.  The Candy Corn is made on the same line as our Coconut Jelly Belly flavor and is Polished on the same equipment in panning with milk containing chocolate and wheat (licorice centers) and nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews). We pack them on the same equipment as Chocolate Malt Balls, Chocolate Raisins, chocolate nuts, Licorice Pastels.
• Since you mentioned your children have food allergies, we have included information about all of our allergens. We do not manufacture any peanut products in our plant; however, we do chocolate cover whole almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews and we use real coconut in our Coconut Jelly Belly flavor.
• We currently have two candies with gluten made with either malt centers or licorice centers. We do not manufacture these centers; we purchase from another manufacturer. We then coat the malt centers with either chocolate or a candy shell. We cover the Licorice centers with a hard candy shell.
• Our chocolate and mellocreme candies, including Candy Corn contain modified soy protein. 
• We follow good manufacturing practices and have a stringent allergen policy to prevent cross-contamination. Any equipment used to process a product containing an allergen must be thoroughly cleaned and inspected by a supervisor prior to the next use.
• I hope this helps.
• Best Regards,

Scott
Consumer Affairs Representative
Jelly Belly Candy Company

If you contact Jelly Belly, they will be glad to send you their full allergen list.  It's very helpful.  The only nut on the list is COCONUT.

Thank you to the personnel for paying attention and wanting to put out the CORRECT information about your labeling.  For those of us in the allergy world, it means a lot.  Even I, an allergy parent, make mistakes sometimes.  Thank you Kit, Tomi and Scott for doing your best to help us keep all of our allergy kids safe!! 

I almost forgot to mention they also have Candy Corn Jelly Beans!  Will need to check those out too!

I have one last local store to call to see if they have these.  If they don't, I'll be ordering to ensure I have them by next Wednesday's baking class!  Can't wait to see the look on my son's face when he can eat what everyone else is eating!  That always make for a wonderful day!

Happy Halloween and Happy Hunting for Holiday Treats!!!

Worried about nuts in Rudi's Organic and Gluten-Free Breads? Here's some feedback on manufacturing practices that may ease your mind.

I just posted a blog about Rudi's Organic Bakery Cinnamon Raisin Bread and I know there will be some concern from those of you navigating nut allergies.  On the packaging it states:  Baked in a facility that also uses tree nuts.  Since my home also navigates peanut/tree nut allergies, I went ahead and got some information I thought many would appreciate.

The following information has been taken directly from Maggie Garner and Rudi's Gluten-Free and Organic Bakery. 


Regarding allergies, do any of Rudi’s breads contain peanuts, peanut oil or tree nuts of any kind? What about eggs or dairy? We do use hazelnuts in our facility in our Nut & Oat Bread.

Good manufacturing practices are used to minimize cross contamination in a bakery that uses tree nuts. These include:

• Designating ingredient storage with color-coded labeling for visual reference,
• using color-coded utensils and bins when we bake with allergens that are not used for non-allergen containing breads, and
• baking the Nut & Oat bread very last in the baking cycle.
• Nuts are not taken into the bakery until all other breads have been made,and
• We shut down and do deep sanitation immediately after the nuts are used and before we start the next baking cycle.
• Finally, all finished product is closely monitored during the bagging process to ensure that the bread containing nuts is not put into the wrong bag.

There are no peanuts or peanut oil at Rudi’s Organic Bakery. In addition, we are egg-free and dairy-free.

Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery breads contain eggs so they are not allergen free. Our gluten-free products do not contain dairy, soy, or tree nuts.

Our Gluten-Free Certification  Our passion is baking better bread and we’ve been doing it since 1976, giving us extensive baking experience to help create gluten-free breads that taste, look and feel like the real bread. Our master bakers worked with gluten-free experts and consumers for more than 15 months to get our formulas to taste like real bread. 

As an added step to making sure we’re baking products that are safe and do not contain gluten, Rudi’s Gluten-Free breads are certified gluten-free and carry the recognizable Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO) GF Symbol. GFCO provides a uniform system, using strict standards to certify a product gluten-free and enables people to easily identify GF foods with confidence. These standards are confirmed by field inspections in order to achieve heightened consumer confidence and safety. You can learn more at: http://www.gfco.org/.

Although we do not have a dedicated gluten-free facility, we do have a segregated, separate manufacturing approach. We bake our gluten-free breads on separate, dedicated equipment and on separate production days. You can feel assured our gluten-free products never come into contact with something used to make a product containing gluten. As part of our manufacturing process, we also do the following:

• Our organic and gluten-free equipment is color-coded for easy segregation
• Our gluten-free breads are baked only after our facility has gone through an extensive, full day clean-up processAll incoming ingredients are tested and certified to be gluten-free
• As part of our gluten-free certification, every batch of our gluten-free bread is tested and must test below <10 ppm of gluten for distribution
• We also send product to an outside lab to validate our test results and ensure we have less than 10 ppm of gluten

Maggie Garner
Rudi’s Organic Bakery & Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery

Worried about Allergens in Earth's Best Frozen Mini Waffles? Here's some company feedback which will help you decide if this product is for you or not.

Earth's Best Mini Waffles from S.A.F.E.

I recently posted about Hain Celestial Group's product, Earth's Best Frozen Mini Waffles.

It states the following on their packaging:  Manufactured in a facility that uses Milk and Eggs.  Good Manufacturing Practices are used to prevent introduction of undeclared allergens.

I know that the statement about being manufactured in a facility with other possible allergens is a red flag for many.  For this reason, I called the company to follow up on the manufacturing practices they had in place.  Here's the information I received.

Dear Ms. Knell,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our Earth's Best Products. We strive to maintain the highest quality products and appreciate your patronage.

The Hain Celestial Group's labeling declares major allergens (peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, tree nuts, and wheat) and we follow the U.S. FDA's regulations. We recognize the serious nature of the allergen issue and we strive to minimize risk.

Both major and minor ingredients of all products, as well as all processing procedures and equipment, are closely scrutinized and all potential allergen issues as determined by the Hain Celestial Group are declared on our labeling.

We assure you that strict manufacturing processes and procedures are in place and that all of our manufacturing facilities follow rigid allergen control programs that include staff training, segregation of allergen ingredients, production scheduling, and thorough cleaning and sanitation.

Thank you for your continued support. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-434-4246, Monday through Friday from 7AM - 5PM Mountain Time.

Sincerely,

Pamela
Consumer Relations Representative
 
I called this morning and had this feedback within 20 minutes.  Talk about great customer service! 
 
We have milk and egg allergies in our household and have used this product for years with no reactions. I hope this information will help you to make a better informed decision for your family.

Link to the Boise COOP video featuring me and these tasty waffles!
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2002183369394&oid=48511983037&comments

Jolly Time Popcorn - Another possible popcorn alternative and some Corporate Feedback

I have come to realize that having kids with food allergies doesn't mean NOT having snacks at friends' houses. It just often means taking your own to share with everyone!

Jolly Time Review from S.A.F.E.

And who doesn't LOVE popcorn?

Here is another popcorn our dairy/egg/nut-free household enjoys. However, one may have noticed that I didn't categorize this product as being DAIRY-FREE although my family has enjoyed it for years. 

In my research, I learned something I hadn't known before. There is a kosher OU-D symbol on the packaging, indicating the possibility of hidden dairy ingredient. Up until now I never realized this fact on this particular packaging.  The 'artificial flavoring' ingredient could also be a concern for some.

I made a follow up call to the company regarding their cleaning processes. After getting a little more information, I feel confident to continue using their product. You can find the information below.

This successful company is nearing its 100 year anniversary in the next few years. Just an added incentive for those who like to support 'family owned' businesses.

Jolly Time Healthy Pop Kettle Korn, 94% Fat Free, distributed by American Pop Corn Company, Sioux City, Iowa.

Cascadian Farms Corporate Response to Questions About 'Natural Flavor' Ingredient in Their Products

Yesterday I was about to post a blog about Cascadian Farm almond butter crunchy granola bars and I wanted to get a little more information about the 'natural flavor' in the ingredient list.

I called the 1-800 number listed on the packaging and was lucky enough to get someone who was fabulous at what they do, Brent Taylor.  One of the first things he told me was that Cascadian Farm works with FAAN and uses FAAN's standards when labeling products.  This means that, if, by chance, there were any of the top 8 allergens or SESAME in this or any of their products, even in the 'natural flavor', it would be stated on any of the packaging coming from their company.

Within MINUTES of our call, he sent me the following Corporate Response:

• Dear Ms. Knell:

Thank you for contacting Cascadian Farms concerning the ingredients in our products. As manufacturers and consumers, we understand your concern about potential allergens in the foods you eat. Our primary goal is to provide accurate information, and we believe this is best accomplished by referring to the specific ingredients listed on each product package. This is the most current information for your needs.

Our products are labeled for the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy products, eggs, soy, wheat, crustaceans, and fish) plus sesame, sunflower and mollusks. We label for these allergens using CONTAINS and/or MAY CONTAIN lists located directly below the product’s ingredient list.

CONTAINS means that the allergen(s) is included in the product’s recipe. The allergen(s) will be listed in the ingredient list, and also in the CONTAINS statement just below the ingredient list.

MAY CONTAIN means that the allergen(s) is not in the product’s recipe but could be present as result of the manufacturing process regardless of our best efforts to exclude it. These allergens will not be included in the ingredient list.

Both CONTAINS and MAY CONTAIN mean that if you are sensitive to the specific allergen(s) in the list, no matter which way it is listed, you should avoid this product.

This ingredient and allergen information is for the package in hand. It is not intended for other packages of the same product. Ingredients may vary from one package to another due to product reformulation. If you have allergy concerns, please carefully read the ingredient information on each package.

We hope this information helps you. You may also want to contact the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) at 1-800-929-4040, or visit their web site at www.foodallergy.org. Although they cannot provide specific ingredient information regarding a particular product, they are a good resource to help in the management of your allergies and sensitivities.

We appreciate your interest. Please contact us again with any further questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Brent Taylor

Customer Services

Talk about fast and responsive customer service!  His 10 years of working in consumer relations is apparent in a positive way.  Not only did Brent ANSWER my questions, he went above and beyond by giving me additional relevant information.  He is well informed on the importance of how food labeling impacts families managing allergies and will go the extra mile to make consumers feel safe using this company's products!

Want to speak with them yourself?  Contact:  http://www.cascadianfarm.com/ or 1-800-624-4123 (and ask for Brent!)
 
Thank you Cascadian Farm for understanding, so well, the importance of food labeling, and for having individuals like Brent on board!

SunButter comments about using soy in plant...thanks for the info!

I recently had a great question from a parent on my SunButter blog.  It was something I knew others may also be concerned about so I wanted to share the response we received.

The mom commented that she almost bought SunButter, but saw that it is processed in a plant that uses soy, an allergen she is to avoid.  I decided to contact SunButter themselves and find out more about their processing steps.  Here's the response we received.
 
Thanks Elizabeth!!

Hi ----- and foodallergymom too,
 Good question. What a lucky little baby to have you so conscientiously managing your diet!
 About the soy statement in SunButter. Here's the details: The only step of our processing that shares equipment with soy is the roasting step. This is the very first step of our process. The sunflower seed used to make sunflower is never roasted together with soy and there is a thorough cleanout process in between roasting soy and sunflower. The cleanout involves pressure washing with 180 degree water. Therefore the likeliness of any trace amount of soy present in SunButter is very small, but there still is a chance of contamination because of the shared equipment.


Once the roasting is completed the sunflower is then processed (ground) into SunButter on our equipment that ONLY processes sunflower seed. All of our processing facilities are completely Peanut and Tree‐nut free.


I hope this helps. Let us know how SunButter may fit your lifestyle--and what you think of it. Of course you can always contact us directly, too. I'm SunButterElizabeth@gmail.com.
   
I hope this helps others to make the decision about whether SunButter is a good choice for them.