Finally!! A Completely SAFE Ice Cream!!

It is great to hear there is a safe ice cream... on the web page it says:
"Ben & Jerry's has a proactive approach to addressing the concerns of persons with food allergies. We work closely with all of our ingredient suppliers to verify all ingredient components, including ingredients in natural flavors, colors, and spices that might be of concern to persons with specific food sensitivities. We insure that this information is then included on the ingredient label of our product. Any product containing peanuts or tree nuts would show those ingredients listed on the label.
If a flavor contains ingredients which are made on shared equipment that also processes peanuts or tree nuts, that information is prefaced by the words Allergy Information in boldface on our label.
Ben & Jerry's is a member of the Food Allergy Network and the Food Allergy Resource and Research Program. These important groups provide updated information and support for people dealing with food allergies. It is the recommendation of these groups that, because lists of flavors may be replicated and become outdated, the safest approach is to read the label each time a purchase is made. We recognize that reading labels can be time-consuming and tedious; however, it is the best way for us to insure that you receive the information you need to enjoy our products free of worry as to their contents. "

This is a good ice cream and I've found they are very allergy aware. My PA daughter especially likes the Phish Food choc. covered ice cream pops. A note of caution: the actual 'phish food' flavor ice cream in the carton does have an allergy warning on them and the little 'phish' candies are made in a facility that processes nuts. There are no warnings on the pops.

I've had a couple of conversations with Ben & Jerry's over the past few days, regarding Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt (delish). While they are extrememly allergy aware regarding ingredients, they do not have dedicated lines - a real disappointment to me after Kevin reacted to another ice cream supposedly made on carefully cleaned lines.
However, in all the years I have been calling companies, I have never ever come across such excellent customer service. They really deserve kudos for their dedication.
Amy

I am re-raising in hopes that you all can tell me what flavors of Ben and Jerry's that you feed your children and feel comfortable with. So far I have not tried anything but Breyers vanilla and chocolate.
TIA,
Jaime

Ben & Jerry's is the only ice cream I allow my PA son to eat. I wish they had dedicated lines, but since no one in the US does, since we've never had any problems with reactions to this brand, since B&J's seems to be very allergy conscious, and since B&J's seems to label really well (for example, they warn that the little chocolate pieces in Phish Food and Bovinity Divinity are made on shared lines), this is the one product that uses shared (but cleaned, of course)lines that I knowingly allow my PA son to eat.
On a regular basis, we use their (sorry, I don't remember the exact names for some of these flavors): World's Best Vanilla, Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Mint Sandwich Cookie (like a mint Oreo), and Half Baked (mix of brownie and choc chip cookie dough). There are probably a couple of others that my PA son has enjoyed, but I can't think of them right now.
My personal favorite, which my PA son can't have because he's also allergic to strawberries: Kaberry Kaboom. Yum.....
Debbie

I have only let my son eat B & J's Word's best vanilla so far, and trust it completely. It is expensive, but I consider it an investment in peace of mind. They do seem like a very nice, decent, honest, company.
I would love to open one of their scoop shops in my town! I went to one in Minneapolis and almost cried tears of joy to see a sign saying they care about food allergies and what they do to make sure what you are eating is safe. Why can't more companies be like that?

I'm glad to see that others have had such positive experiences with B&J ice cream and their policies. I *was* using their vanilla ice cream until a few month ago when I had a long and very nice conversation with one of their customer service reps (don't remember her name). She sounded amazingly intelligent and was very knowledgeable about allergies and their cleaning processes on their shared equipment. After explaining the whole cleaning process to me, she ended it with something like... But if my daughter were PA, and the allergy could be brought on by such a microscopic amount of material, then I would really have to think about whether I would give her B&J ice cream, even with all the cleaning of the equipment. I'm not sure if that was her own personal opinion or if she was saying it for liability reasons. However, that comment really jolted me at the time and made me question whether to give it to her anymore or not. As a result of that comment, I stopped and have been making my own ice cream ever since. However, like I said, I am encouraged by the other positive comments I've seen here and may broaden my comfort zone on B&J in the future.

I was hoping that B&J's ice cream shops were also safe, but I learned differently this weekend. The store manager told me that they would not recommend that my son eat at B&J Shops because they always use the same scoops w/ each order and only rinse them off w/ the sitting water that is only changed every few hours. The manager told me that she was not aware of any "allergy policy" in any of their locations. The info she was just told to explain was that there is cross contamination and that nothing is considered safe in the shop. We were disappointed and left w/o any ice cream. I'll have to stick to B&J's ice cream at home.
[This message has been edited by robinlp (edited August 20, 2002).]

Thank you for your replies! I do not think I am comfortable letting him eat at the actual ice cream shop, but I am definitely going to let him try some new flavors from the grocery!
Jaime =)

Just bumping this up and mentioning that [b]Erik found 'may contain' labeling on ben & jerry's that previously didn't have it.[/b] He posted about it in the main discussion forum. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]
Gale