Walmart Bakery Nightmare

I would not eat anything from a bakery in a grocery store whether it is made on the premises or off.
I also would not eat anything from any other kind of bakery unless it was Krispy Kreme Donuts which is supposed to be nut free.

I agree. Think about all the nut products in a bakery. The residue is probably all over everything. We avoid all bakery items. Krispy Kreme is safe.
Jaime
[This message has been edited by AJSMAMA (edited December 21, 2002).]

A few years ago I read a warning (perhaps in the FAAN newsletter?) about warehouse baked goods. They do not label for cross contamination, and carry many PN and nut-based products.
Better safe than sorry.
Amy

I predict that if anyone from the Walmart bakery ever calls you back, they will have no idea what you mean by cross-contamination. That's your cue to hang up the phone and forget about Walmart bakery.
But that doesn't mean your child can only eat home-baked goods (though some people do prefer to stick to home-baked). If you poke around on these boards a bit to do some research and make a few phone calls to manufacturers, you may discover that some items from Hostess, Entenmann's, and Krispy Kreme are OK. And if you want to do easy not-from-scratch baking, most people on these boards feel safe with the labeling on Betty Crocker brand mixes.
I do feel safe with a few specific items from our local grocery bakery, but that's my own comfort zone. A huge place like Walmart or Costco bakery would never feel safe with so many of their products containing nuts.

I hope I am doing this right since I have only been on this board for a few months, and still "green". I wanted to post an experience we had at Walmart last night, and I found this older discussion already on board.
Our Walmart Deli/Bakery has the rotisserie (spelling?) chickens that my family loves. I love them too for a quick meal. One of my DD's went with me last night to pick up some chicken. I thought was safe, but then noticed a NEW sticker on the deli window above the chicken that lists all these allergens: peanut, nut, soy, wheat, fish, seafood, just to name a few. Pretty much the top food allergies. It pretty much states that all food in the deli could be contaminated by any of these allergens!! I understand the bakery items, but was surprised by the deli. I guess it's a way out for them to cover themselves.
I called DH to see where his comfort level was with this. We are still not sure where our comfort level is to be truthful. However, my DD said she had a bad feeling about it and told me not to get the chicken. I guess my 19 yr old DD knows her comfort level!
So now I guess no lunchmeat or anything like that from Walmart. So sad to mark more off little DS's list. It's already so hard to find him something to eat when you combine his PA w/ EA.

The walmart bakeries I've seen by me all have the CYA signs the poster above mentioned.
Personally, I eat bakery products from Jewel-Osco all the time (it's a midwest grocery store), and occasionally I'll have cupcakes or those apple things at other bakeries. But I also eat a lot of things that other people here wouldn't. Just a comfort zone thing. And if it has a cross-cont. label for baked goods, I don't eat it, even if it is only CYA, because then I've got peanuts on the brain and I can't relax for hours on end.

We've seen the cross-cont signs in our Wal-Mart bakery. As a teeneage, I wokred in a grocery store bakery and for experience I can say, there is cross-cont EVERYWHERE in the back room. We NEVER were told anything about nut allergies or such. We cleaned the stainless stell tables and butcher block tables between making items, but there were bits of nuts, decorations, incing, etc everywhere. If I had know about PA back then, I would have been much more concerned, but I didn't have any clue about it and I guess the store management didn't eaitehr, or didn't care. I was glad to see the signs up at Wal-Mart, because it means that stores and people are becoming more aware of PA and TA. Honestly, I've let DS eat donuts out of the case and he hasn't had any reaction. Lately, I've been much more paranoid about it, so he's not allowed to at anything out of the bakery at all.

check walmart brands of all foods in the shelves
they have become the master of cya
there is a warning lising all top 8 on absolutely everything item they sell.
down with walmart..

Aside from the bad press Walmart has been having (bad for local businesses, bad for the American economy, etc.), I never buy from a grocery store bakery. A very good friend of mine has worked in bakeries at many of our local grocery stores and he has strongly suggested we never buy anything from them because there will be cross contamination. There just isn't enough time to wash everything between making different recipes and to their way of thinking, it is all just food so should be safe to not wash mixing bowls between making cakes and cookies and doughnuts.
That being said, I know of 2 small bakeries in my city that have said they will make a peanut/nut free cake for anyone who requests cakes for allergic customers. I have used one of these bakeries and had good luck, and will try the other soon. They require a couple of days notice and are not cheap, $40 for a half sheet filled cake versus $16 for a half sheet at Costco.
Good luck in your search for a safe bakery! I'm sure there must be something out there, but for the most part if we want cookies we stick to Pepperidge Farms or some other company whose labeling we trust and don't expect most bakeries to be safe.

what about the decorated bday cakes and cupcakes from wal-mart bakery? does anyone here have an opinion about those? i have noticed that wal-mart bakery has put up warning stickers on all their cases saying something to the effect that everything in that area could potentially come into contact with peanuts/treenuts (and other allergens as well, i believe). however, the cakes and the regular sized cupcakes (not the mini ones) do NOT have an allergy warning on the label, although they do have an extensive list of ingredients.
it was my understanding that wal-mart bakery now gets its cakes and regular sized cupcakes shipped in frozen from somewhere else and that they are decorated in a room that is only used for cake decorating (at least that's the way it works at one of our wal-mart supercenters here). my thinking is that wal-mart labels everything that may have in any way come into contact with common food allergens (even when it seems they are only labeling to cover themselves legally). if the cake/cupcakes are not labeled with an allergy warning, it would seem wal-mart doesn't feel they are a potential problem.
i haven't decided yet myself how i feel about the cake/cupcakes. i still make my own for my kids. however, these cakes/cupcakes end up served at about 99% of the bday parties and classroom parties my kids attend. i've often wondered how ther parents of PA kids handle this and whether or not they allow their children to eat the cake/cupcakes.
one thing that has bothered me about wal-mart is that they seem to have gone overboard on warning labels. normally, i appreciate detailed ingredient lists and allergy warnings but i think wal-mart seems to have just given up on trying to decide which items are potential problems for those with food allergies and have decided to just lable everything as "may contain." the rotisserie chicken is just one example of how they've taken a product that is probably safe for those with nut allergies and put up a sticker in that area of the deli so as to cover themselves legally, just in case. i want to be informed but i also don't want to have to prevent my kids from eating more foods than they are already restricted from just because of mass warning stickers.
joey