A reader recently notified me of a new nut-free bakery in nearby Rhode Island. I was so excited! I thought, this is great, more options! It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Or so I thought. Here is what the website states:
"No nuts are present in our AIB-Certified facility, so our baked goods never come into contact with nuts of any kind. Our nut-free facility means that people with nut allergies can rest assured when enjoying our delicious baked goods."
That sounds good, right? It states that, however, right below their list of cookie flavors and the cookie flavors were concerning--they use M&M's. That's right, this "nut-free" bakery apparently uses plain M&M's. It's actually the first cookie flavor they have listed. One of the photos on their website looks like a brownie topped with M&M's.
"may contains" = risk of cross contamination
As most peanut and nut-allergic individuals know, plain M&M's packages bear "may contain peanuts" statements. That means there could be trace amounts of peanuts in the plain M&M's. In fact, recently there was a news story about a mother accused of murdering her peanut allergic child with plain M&M's.
The bakery's website further states "We make natural baked goods in a nut-free facility for restaurants, cafeterias, and other foodservice outlets." Yipes. Does this mean that restaurants and other businesses are then serving/selling what they believe to be nut-free baked goods?
Yesterday, I sent an email to the bakery--Cross Country Cookie--to inquire about their use of M&M's as a "nut-free" bakery but have not heard back from them yet. I can't help but wonder, if they use M&M's, what kind of chocolate are they using? Their use of M&M's raises all sorts of questions about the nut-free nature of their baked goods or lack thereof. I suggested some alternative sources of chocolate and candy to them, with the hope that they will switch to nut-safe and peanut-safe ingredients. If they are going to use ingredients which bear "may contains" warnings, they should change the wording on their website and other materials, and not refer to their food as nut-free, or include the "may contains" warning on their own labels. I hope to hear back from them soon. I must note, the bakery is not new. According to their website, they've been in business for 25 years.
I write this post to remind readers that the terms nut-free and peanut-free mean different things to different companies and different people. Until the FDA defines what peanut-free and nut-free should mean on food labels, manufacturers will continue to use these terms (and terms like dairy-free, soy-free, etc.) how they wish. It's potentially dangerous but that's the reality. It's so easy to imagine how things could go very wrong when a bakery says it is nut-free but uses ingredients that contain traces of peanuts and/or nuts. Some nut allergic and peanut allergic individuals react to trace amounts. We know this. Some of us have experienced this ourselves, or witnessed it, or read newspaper articles about horrific reactions to trace amounts. You see where I'm going with this. I don't think I need to spell it out more.
This problem is not limited to peanut and nut allergies; it's across the board, for all food allergies. A free-from food labeled as such, should actually be free of that ingredient. This is why I believe the FDA should set official definitions and thresholds for free-from food labels, but that's a story for another day. read more..
Friday, 20 July 2012
Trace Amounts-Nut Allergies-Baked Goods-Bakery-Peanut
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Gluten Intolerance-Gluten Sensitivity-Gluten Intolerant-Celiac Disease-Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker created a gluten-free line of some of their classics last year including cake, brownies, cookie mixes and even Bisquick. They have now combined those mixes with a book on how to use them and incorporate them into a gluten-free lifestyle. Published by Wiley (also, my book publisher), Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking has 150 recipes, all gluten-free. They sent me a review copy to check out. (On their website they also have a listing of allergen-friendly cookbooks, not just their own, including my faves like Cybele Pascal’s Cookbooks: BettyCrockerStore.com ) What I didn't love about Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking:Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking: uses every allergen but wheat, barely and the major culprits of gluten. There are diary, eggs, soy, tree nuts, peanut, fish and shellfish ingredients all throughout Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking. So, if you have a celiac plus multi-allergy or multi-sensitivity household, Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking may not for you. Or if you want to be gluten-free but have severe allergies to any of those ingredients you will be making many substitutions and there is no way to know how the recipes may turn out as they don’t provide for substitutions. The recipes in Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking call for gluten-free items to be added (like yogurt or deli meats) but have no listing of where to get those items or what substitutions are safe (many specialty cookbooks provide lists of safe flours and purveyor, for example). For new gluten-free cooks, this will pose an issue and may cause some unintentional gluten-free mistakes. What I have mixed feelings about in Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking i.e. I see this as a con and a pro:The Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking recipes use a lot of American processed foods and convenience foods. Those foods are usually high in sugar, salt and fats. However, Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking also gives the nutritional information so you can make an educated choice for you and your family about each meal plan and how much sugar, fat and salt intake you are consuming The recipes in Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking remind me of a baking or cookbook from the 1950s e.g. sloppy joe pie. As I've never had tuna casserole or sloppy joe I don't know how these recipes stack up but I can say it seems the trend has turned to healthier choices. So, if you're a eating a classic bake, Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking has updated these classics adding the nutritional information per serving added as well as making them gluten-free. The good news about Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking:The information about celiac disease is correct which is not always the case with GF baking or cooking books. The recipes use both homemade flour mixes (the recipes for which they give but again no hint of which flour purveyor is safe) and Betty Crocker brand prepared mixes which gives the reader more flexibility. The recipes that use the pre-made Betty Crocker brand mixes look easy (NB: I haven’t yet tried them). For a newly diagnosed celiac or gluten intolerant person, Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking has lots of easy dishes both sweet and savory, appetizers and entrees that you can whip up in no time using both processed foods and fresh produce. Upshot on Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking:
There is no one book that is perfect for everyone. But the more books out there, the better for anyone who has celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or gluten intolerance. Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cooking will be helpful to many in the GF community who are newly diagnosed, teens just learning to bake, cook and experiment or extended family members just learning how to bake yummy GF treats for loved one. As for me, I've flagged three new recipes to make for my next dinner party: snickerdoodles, coffee cake and whoopie pie cake. And I'm betting, given the quality of the Betty Crocker mixes, they won't know the difference. read more..