One U.S. food manufacturer I am especially impressed by is Clabber Girl (www.clabbergirl.com). At home in my cupboard, I have a can of Clabber Girl Corn Starch and a can of Rumford Baking Powder, also made by Clabber Girl. The side of the Rumford Baking Powder can bears a familiar looking picture of a peanut with a line through it. It says "Produced in a Peanut-Free Facility". If you visit the Clabber Girl website (http://www.clabbergirl.com/peanut_free.php), you will see just what exactly Clabber Girl means by "peanut-free":
"...no peanut products are allowed in the Clabber Girl facility. In the transition to become a peanut-free manufacturing facility the company had to utilize a Canadian protocol, because there are no established standards in the U.S. for peanut-free facilities. As a part of the monitoring process, ingredient suppliers are required to provide statements declaring their products to be peanut-free, visitors must sign a statement that they are not bringing any product into the facility that contains peanuts in any form, and product samples are sent to independent labs for testing."
Over the last year, I have been in touch with Clabber Girl, learning about their commitment to producing products in a completely peanut-free environment. We tried some of Clabber Girl’s Delisheries baking mixes, a line of 8 different cookie mixes available to schools for fundraisers--tasty, easy, and peanut-free. You can purchase Delisheries online at http://www.delisheries.com/Store/index.php. We also enjoyed their all purpose baking mix--much like Bisquick--which can be used to make biscuits, pancakes and a number of other foods. I think it’s important we support manufacturers that are so conscious of food allergies, and in this case, peanut allergy aware. Next time you are at the supermarket, keep your eyes open for products made by Clabber Girl and bearing their peanut free symbol. Clabber Girl brands include Clabber Girl, Rumford, Davids and Hearth Club; their most easily found products are their baking powder and corn starch.
