Kids Food Allergies Blog

 A mom in my food allergy support group provides additional thoughts to support to Beth’s comment that Back to Nature Oreos may not, in fact, be peanut free.  She writes:

Back to Nature recently came out with a Peanut Butter sandwich cookies.  It is in the same shape as their Chocolate Creme (Oreo-type) Sandwich cookie, and it has the exact same emblem on the cookie, same packaging, etc.  Which would lead one to assume that they are made on the same equipment or at least in the same facility.  (I should also add that on the Peanut Butter sandwich cookie box, no where does it have any allergen warning; just says “peanut butter” in the ingredient list — and not in bold print, I may add).

 So since I use so many of their foods, I called many times to try to get answers and was given the same schpele over and over about how, if there was a risk, they would label it.  (I am attaching the schpele below because it is what they put in email form when you email the company).  I also want to add that one time when I called customer service and spoke with a supervisor, the supervisor said “there are not peanuts in the cookies — it is peanut butter”.  So clearly, there are some issues with Back to Nature.  This is the schpele:

 ”We understand that allergic consumers are concerned about the potential carryover of an allergen between products that are manufactured on shared equipment. Most of our production lines are designed to be convertible to other products. If a product is made on shared equipment, every reasonable precaution, including stringent cleaning and sanitation practices, is taken to prevent cross-contact with the eight major allergens (eggs, fish, shellfish, milk, peanuts, soy, tree nuts and wheat). When contact with one of these allergens is unavoidable, then the product is labeled appropriately. Please be aware that formulas may change and the best source of information is the ingredient line. We ask that our consumers take the time to check the ingredient line prior to purchasing a product.

I hope this information will assist you with your food choices.

For more information about food nutrition, visit www.kraftfoods. com and click on Healthy Living.”

The bottom line is that my instincts are telling me that they are doing a very poor job of labeling.  The fact that there is no sort of allergen warning or bold print on the Peanut butter cookies is a clear example to me.  And, again, I have no proof, but my gut says that because the cookies are identical, I would assume that the Chocolate Creme cookies are made on the same equipment or at least in the same facility as the PB cookies, without any cross-contamination warning.  If that is true, that would lead one to reason that they have dropped the ball on cross-contamination labeling in general.

I’m convinced.  Over my daughter’s vehement protests, no more Back to Nature Classic Cream Cookies for my family.  That means I have 11 months and 3 weeks to find another peanut-free cookie to send in for next year’s birthday snack.  Oy vay!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm and is filed under food allergies, peanut allergy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.