I'm thinking if we could get just ONE major manufacturer to switch to a "no peanuts policy" (unless it is a major ingredient and stamped all over the bag), others might follow.
[url="http://www.kraftapps.com/contact_us/contact_us.asp?referrer=Nabisco"]http://www.kraftapps.com/contact_us/contact_us.asp?referrer=Nabisco[/url]
Here is the email I sent:
My husband confiscated a mini-bag of Ritz Bits Cheese Sandwiches from a birthday party treat bag that had been given to my 4-year-old, who has a severe peanut allergy. We were saddened to see peanuts as the last ingredient, and a bit alarmed that it was nearly unreadable because the manufacturing code was stamped over the word.
For kids like Chase, it is very difficult to find snack foods that are edible. Peanut allergies, as you probably well know, are becoming increasingly common, and often have devastating results, like the death of the boy in Washington who was inadvertantly given a peanut butter cookie on a school field trip.
We love most of the Nabisco products, and would like to continue keeping some in our household -- could you give us a list of products which do NOT contain peanuts, peanut oils or are produced in a factory that produces peanut products? If you really wanted to be a hero, you could even consider NOT putting peanut products in your recipes -- it might be that such a step taken by a major company would set an industry-wide standard that other companies could follow and provide Nabisco and Kraft with some very good PR.
Thank you,
Annette Hampton
This is the e-mail we sent to Nabisco:
I am 7 years old and deathly allergic to all forms of peanut products. Why do you have to put peanut products in your Ritz CHEESE sandwich crackers?
All of my second grade classmates have given up foods with peanut products, to help save my life.
My friends and family want me to explain why there are peanut products in the cheese crackers. Please help me give them an answer.
[This message has been edited by Sue (edited August 30, 2001).]
That was a very compelling letter! If I were Nabisco/Kraft, it would make me take PN products out!
Annette
As someone who boycotts Nabisco/Kraft (I boycott all Philip Morris products)I can honestly say that I might start buying Nabisco/Kraft products if they guaranteed the safety of all of their products to those of us with PAs.
I have a question. Kraft is putting peanuts as the last ingredient *instead* of using a "may contain peanuts" warning? Is that it? Because I can't see why they would put peanuts into their cheese crackers. Perhaps they run the peanut butter crackers on the same line as the cheese crackers, so this is their idea of warning for cross-contamination? I remember reading that only a small percentage (maybe 15%, not sure) of items listing peanuts as the last ingredients were found to actually contain peanuts. I think this is more of a cross-contamination issue than an actual recipe.
Also, this info is U.S. specific, right? Because Kraft Canada is really on top of things, allergy-wise - I feel really safe with them here.
Carolyn
I seem to recall a Nabisco telephone rep telling me (sometime in the past 6 months) that if a Nabisco product had potential of peanut due to shared production lines, then "peanut" would be listed IN THE INGREDIENTS (at/near the end) & not as a "may contain" item.
EB