Next question: "Aren't there lists of these things?" Yeah, sure there are peanut-free lists. But most of them are for snacks to send to school, not things to cook for dinner.
And frankly I have no idea how people came up with some of them. Some seem based on the lack of a "may contain traces" label, which I guess they don't know is meaningless, because labeling for "may contain" is voluntary. Others seem based on "we eat these all the time and never had a reaction," which is... a judgment call. Maybe I'll feel comfortable with that someday. But in theory, that's playing russian roulette. So we're contacting every company ourselves; I'm taking "good track record" as added confirmation that it's safe, not a stand-in for it.
You would not believe how many phone calls Lance made in the last few weeks, and we're nowhere near done. And then there's the part where you hang up, replay what they just told you, and realize you have no idea what it actually means.
But here's what I think we've gathered. There's a sort of hierarchy of safety, and where you enter or exit is up to you:
1. Made in a nut-free facility.
2. Nuts in facility, but products made on dedicated lines. (Although depending on what this means - equipment on same floor, or same workers on both lines, or airborne product - might not be any safer than the next category.)
3. Made on same equipment as nuts, but clean between runs, AND one or more of the following:
a) reliable labeling for shared equipment
b) test after cleaning to ensure no residue
c) discard the first batch made after nuts
d) good track record - no reactions or recalls
4. Made on same equipment as nuts, and clean in between, BUT one or more of the following:
a) only label if they feel cleaning process was inadequate
b) poor track record - multiple reactions or recalls
5. Made on same equipment, cleaning in between, BUT company recommends you not use their product if severely allergic.
6. Not nut-free, and not trying to be.
NOTE: I'm using peanut-free and nut-free interchangeably here, because our new allergist told us we have to avoid traces of each equally. If you're looking for specific information about whether something contains peanuts vs. tree nuts, I apologize; I probably do have that info in my notes, but I don't have time to type it up right now.
So here we go. Ready?
NUT-FREE:
Bachman pretzels
Bagel City challah (thank Gd, because*)
Bertolli olive oil
BillyBee honey (made by a different company than BillyBee nuts)
Breakstone butter
Camp maple syrup
Dr. Praeger's - all
Golden - at least some vegetable pancakes (not sure if we asked about their blintzes)
Gold's - all
Heinz ketchup (and vinegars?)
Hershey's chocolate milk - the juice-box size made in Logan, Utah plant #4962
Hodgson Mills - all
Kemach - at least some snacks (or all?)
Kikkoman - Wisconsin plant
Lieber's - at least some snacks (they sent us a pdf)
Maple Grove Farms maple syrup
McCormick spices
Rice Select (except for the one with a packet of almonds, which comes from another facility)
Ronzoni pasta
Smuckers jam - # ending in 001 or 006 only (NOT 007)
Stonyfield - yogurt & squeezers only (NOT ice cream & frozen yogurt)
Sue Bee honey
Sunmaid raisins - Kingsburg plant
Ungar's gefilte fish
Van's waffles
NOT NUT-FREE, but good reputation for cleaning and/or labeling:
Breyer's (owned by Unilever) - although some people only eat the vanilla
General Mills
Hershey's
Keebler / Kellogg's / Morningstar Farms
Pepperidge Farm
NOT NUT-FREE, and poor reputation for cleaning and/or labeling:
Earth's Best / Hain (goodbye kids' favorites: organic chocolate milk, cereal bars, elmo crackers, and cheddar corn cakes)
Kraft / Nabisco
NOT NUT-FREE, and make no claim to be:
Arnold's / Entenmann's / Freihoffer's / Thomas (goodbye kids' favorite bagels)
Healthy Delites bread (goodbye my favorite bread)
Roland mango chutney
Rudi's Organic bread
*Just about every bakery on earth (though we must find out if we can get bagels from Butterflake; thanks for the tip, Kate)
STILL SCRATCHING HEAD OVER:
Ben and Jerry's - supposed to be as reliably labeled as Breyer's; I think I'm just getting stuck because it seems too good to be true
ConAgra (which owns Alexia / Hunt's / La Choy) - based on their reputation, not sure whether they belong in category 3 or 4
Goodman's onion soup mix - nuts are processed elsewhere in facility; not sure what steps are taken to isolate them
Hellmann's mayo & Wishbone dressing (owned by Unilever) - told us we "may or may not want to consume, based on sensitivity"; might be the same as Breyer's, but less info about their reputation online
Near East rice - they label if they think there might be cross-contamination; not enough info about reputation online
Sharon's sorbet - company line is that there's no cross-contamination, but guy on the phone says "use your judgment"
Yoni's ravioli - no nuts in their facility, but not sure they can vouch for the soybean oil they get from someone else
Then there was the company which said they are nut-free, but nuts are allowed in the break room. (???)
WAITING TO HEAR FROM:
Bonne Maman jam
Eden toasted sesame oil
Filippo Berio olive oil
Golden Blossom honey
Hero jam
Paskesz candy
Sabra hummus (not hopeful, because some flavors have pine nuts)
Sonny and Joe's hummus
Streit's onion soup mix
Tuv Taam hummus (sounds totally unappealing to me, but we may be desperate...)
HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN TO:
Ok, I'm not even going to list these. That's enough for tonight.
p.s. Someone also asked me whether this is like learning to keep kosher. No, it's really not - in normal kashrut, trace amounts don't count. It's more like trying to keep Pesach all year long. In a country with no hashgacha. Maybe China.
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10 comments:
I loved this post. You are so right--there is something of a hierarchy! Looking forward to reading your next post.
It's more like trying to keep Pesach all year long.
What a great insight!
If the prepared hummus doesn't work out, if you can find okay tehini, you could make your own hummus, as all the other ingredients you've either found or are available raw and whole. Er, I guess you could make your own tehini, too.
I think I see a lot of baking your own breads and snacks in your future.
So the new instructions are to stay away from peanuts and tree nuts, but mustard, chocolate, and soy are all okay?
You are doing a great job!
Hi Jennifer - nice to see you here, I've been following your blog too. :) At some point I'll try to get a list up of all the helpful resources I've consulted, including yours.
Anonymous - no, chocolate & soy are okay, but mustard is still on the avoid list. Aleph's blood test for that was positive. As we expected.
I'm glad you asked, actually. I should point out that Aleph got a rash when he used to eat one variety of Morningstar Farms veggie burgers (I forget what it's called, but spicy bean flavor.) But I'm assuming that was due to mustard or some other seed/spice allergy we haven't identified, not peanuts. We still use the garden vegetable burgers with no incident.
I would definitely consider making my own hummus if need be - but unfortunately, "raw and whole" is not enough for the chick peas. There can still be cross-contamination if they're packed in the same plant as nuts/peanuts, so that would be a phone call as well.
It's not the way we're used to thinking about unprocessed foods, I know. :)
Thanks for your nice response to my comment!
What a relief that chocolate and soy are okay. Grrr, still, at that awful, incompetent first allergist!
I would definitely consider making my own hummus if need be - but unfortunately, "raw and whole" is not enough for the chick peas. There can still be cross-contamination if they're packed in the same plant as nuts/peanuts, so that would be a phone call as well.
I was thinking about dried beans. Are you saying cross-contamination is still an issue with dried beans, even if you check them, Sephardi-with-rice-for-Pesach style?
Well, I guess that could make sense, the contact could be a problem. You are right, it is a new way of thinking.
Would the processors of commercial hummus not run into the same problem with their source of chickpeas?
I know there are safe, or at least safe for the needs of some other kosher families with peanut and tree-nut allergies, canned chick peas, but I don't know the brands.
Maybe someone else can provide that information. Another good thing about your having posted this list is that others with specific information can help!
lists? hah! We don't need no shtinking lists!
or, rather, how would they help? damn things change without warning.
Yes, there's a hierarchy. And let me add another piece of information: good manufacturing practices. Some companies work to make sure that there's really solid cleaning done between product runs with the top 8 allergens (which only helps you if those are in your personal allergy hot list). Some don't. Some say they do, but do a lousy job....witness the furor over WFM's chocolate. Sigh.
Trader Joe's does a lovely job with allergy labeling, and we sent their cleaning practices information to our allergy teams, for clearance.
Tofutti has laughed at me repeatedly, when I asked why they don't label for the presence of nuts. They have a lousy track record with dairy cross-contam, also.
Silk has had dairy x-tam problems, and nut traces have shown up in a number of soy milks (not that you are avoiding dairy, but I used to use soy for baking/cooking pareve). Our allergist currently recommends Soy Dream (original flavor), but ask your allergist for their opinion.
Cascadian Farms' cereal falls under the 'if they say there's a problem, there is' category in our house, but General Mills is currently being investigated by our allergist for cross-contam problems. Ack!
I could go on - and on - and on, but at the end of the rant, I'd end up saying that I think you are right. Knowing a company's track record, what allergens they'll label for - and when (present? shared machinery? present in the facility?), how they clean (between runs? at the end of the day? what methods do they use?) makes a huge difference.
oh, and p.s. we've gotten the all-clear on Sharon's Sorbet, and have been happily eating it for a couple of years now. But hey, as in all things, my kids, my judgement call. Your kids? Your call.
Persephone, have you subscribed to Living Without yet? It's a magazine for people with food allergies. My girlfriend with Celiac disease swears by it.
Kol hakavod, 'seph. What a job - I can't imagine the sheer number of phone calls you and Lance have to make. I hope someday Aleph can appreciate how much his parents did/are doing for him ;)
Hm, I didn't see Chapman's on your list. A friend with an extremely allergic son, including a very high allergy to peanuts (all in all, Aleph sounds very much like this friend's son), uses Chapman's ice cream (which we took to buying, because it's one of the few that's kosher AND yummy). It's not just available in Canada, is it?
If I remember correctly, he could even eat the Chapman's ice cream cones. It was one of the few foods where he was able to feel like "the rest of the kids."
May you be blessed with all the strength you need to continue these phone calls and diligence!
Oh, I guess I should have added that Chapman's advertises as nut-free. duh.
If you ever have cause to visit the greater Boston area, there's a nut free kosher bakery in Newton.
Their challos started out 'acceptable', but have apparently improved vastly - that's a taste-meter ranking. And the pastries I've had were yummy to begin with.
Good luck with the options near you.
Just want to comment on Near East rice for other folks who is search on the subject. My 4 yr daughter has severe allergy to Milk, Peanut, and tree nuts. She is also allergic to egg, wheat but not quite as severe. She was able to eat the Near East Long Grain & Wild Rice Orginal for a long time before we definitively tied it to her recent accident that required a ER visit and had full body hives that lasted over 24 hours with treatment. Online searches seem to indicate that it has a long history of cross contamination with diary, almond, pine nuts, and wheat.
This revelation also explained another accident a year ago that was unexplained because at time I didnot even question the rice mix as unsafe.
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