Safety of \"store brands\"

I shop at City Market (Kroger *is* the store brand there), and I don't recall seeing any Kroger brand stuff that had a "may contain" label...I do buy some of their store brands (cheese, butter, etc... things that I am not worried about cross contamination...). I'll check again, next time I shop.

Walmart, oddly enough, is pretty good about labeling for cross contamination. I bought their chocolate chips ("Great Value" brand). They label for cross contamination, but these chips are OK for peanuts/tree nuts (of course, read the label). I also noticed that their version of Nutri Grain bars had a "may contain" label, so we bought the Kellogg brand instead...

We also have Western Family brand out here (a smaller store brand). They label for cross contamination pretty well-their version of Oreos are not OK, but "real" Oreos are...

I don't trust store brands any more or less than real brands, frankly. I don't think Kraft/Nabisco is particularly great about labeling for cross contamination. At least, not that I've seen on things we buy. It's not required to list for cross contamination, correct?

Right, I don't believe it is a "law" to exclude "may contain" on the label. It's funny you say that about the generic Nutri Grain bars. I bought the Kroger brand and when I called, they said they couldn't "guarantee" that they were not produced in a facility that also processes peanut/tree nut products. Kind of strange considering when I've called previous times, they tell me if there's any CHANCE of cross contamination, it'll always be on the label since it's one of the top 8 allergens--yada yada. She said they are the distributor of the product, not the actual manufacturer and they were not legally allowed to tell me the name/number of the manufacturer, so I couldn't call. Very frustrating, very scary. We have to be on our toes!!

We eat Kroger brand poptarts. I have not tried the name brand ones. I do use Malt-O-Meal cereal not all types.

Good Luck,
Suzette

We trust and have used Kroger brands for years. They will ALWAYS label. Walmart on the other hand, I don't trust.

Manufacturers are not required to list precautionary warnings like "may contains" or "processed in a facility" etc.

So when a product does not have a warning, the product could very well be processed on shared lines and it "may contain" trace amounts of another ingredient.

Here are more [url="http://www.allergymoms.com/modules/wordpress/index.php?p=533"]Tips on Label Reading[/url]

And an article by Dr Scott Sicherer on labels:
[url="http://www.allergymoms.com/uploads/newsletters/allergymoms_newsletter_09_17_07.html#article2"]Making Sense of "May Contain" Warnings[/url]

Take care,
Gina
allergymoms.com