My cousin referred me to this website, Nutrilicious.com and I've had some correspondence with the company's President. They make cookies that have treenuts, so I asked him about their cleaning procedures.
His Email follows:
Hi,
Thanks for the interest in our products. First, we have no peanuts, milk or eggs in the plant. The donuts are fried vs.. baking for the cookies so two different processes are used. There is one mixing bowl that is used by both donuts and cookies, but this is completely cleaned and washed between mixes. We make only donuts on Monday, and then Tuesday is cleaning and shipping. The cookies are made wed. through Friday. I hope this helps, we take very seriously our position in providing sweets for those people who can't normally have them. If you have any other questions, please call or write.
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I asked him to elaborate on the bowls and cleaning procedures.
Here is his response:
I want to answer all of your questions because I want you to be able to make a sound decision concerning the food your son eats, so ask as many as you want.
We do not use a dishwasher but In our washing procedure, it is fairly easy to clean the bowls. They are about 3 feet high by 2 feet across made out of stainless steel. We use a high pressure hose that shoots 180 degree water to clean the bowl. In a typical mix of cookie dough, the total weight of the mix is about 150 pounds, with about 15 pounds being nuts.
Because the dough is extremely sticky, there are never any "free floating" nuts. Also because of the surface of the bowl, it is easy to see any cookie batter that is left over, waiting to be washed out.
Now the second piece of equipment is the paddle used to mix the dough. The donut dough is made in one mixer, while the glazing and cookie dough "share" a mixer. We do use different paddles between the donut icing and the cookie batter, even though both are cleaned in the same manner.
If you wanted to be extremely safe, have your son try the plain donuts. The dough is made in a different machine than the cookies, and there is very little chance of cross contamination.
In summary, we have been in business for 15 years, and we have never had a complaint of cross contamination. We are very careful and we want to keep our record perfect. Please write if you have anymore questions.
Steve Maril
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Has anybody tried these? I'm thinking of trying their plain donuts. If I do, I'll let you know how they are. Meg
