Cascadian Farms Cereals

[shoshana]

I spoke with the rep at Cascadian Farms...their O's contain wheat, and may contain soy and sesame.  Assured me that there were no peanuts in the plant.  Seemed very confident on their labeling policies.  Seems like its a go...

[Jessica]

I emailed about their foods in general (saw some frozen foods i wanted to try) and got this. They don't mention that they label for shared lines/facilities (I flat-out asked if they do and they did not answer this) but just that if they think there's a risk, yadda yadda. I take that to mean there are or may be allergens in the facility, but the label will only reflect that if they feel there's a risk.  Almost word for word the same thing General Mills told me a few years ago. I guess you'd have to call for each individual thing which is always annoying to me. I am not always at the store when they're phone hours are open.

Dear Valued Consumer:

 

Thank you for contacting Small Planet Foods concerning the ingredients in our products. As manufacturers and consumers, we understand your concern about potential allergens in the foods you eat. Our primary goal is to provide accurate information, and we believe this is best accomplished by referring to the specific ingredients listed on each product package. This is the most current information for your needs.

 

Our products are labeled for the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy products, eggs, soy, wheat, crustaceans, and fish) plus sesame, sunflower and mollusks. We label for these allergens using CONTAINS and/or MAY CONTAIN lists located directly below the product’s ingredient list.

CONTAINS means that the allergen(s) is included in the product’s recipe. The allergen(s) will be listed in the ingredient list, and also in the CONTAINS statement just below the ingredient list.

MAY CONTAIN means that the allergen(s) is not in the product’s recipe but could be present as result of the manufacturing process regardless of our best efforts to exclude it. These allergens will not be included in the ingredient list.

 

Both CONTAINS and MAY CONTAIN mean that if you are sensitive to the specific allergen(s) in the list, no matter which way it is listed, you should avoid this product.

 

This ingredient and allergen information is for the package in hand. It is not intended for other packages of the same product. Ingredients may vary from one package to another due to product reformulation. If you have allergy concerns, please carefully read the ingredient information on each package.

 

We hope this information helps you. You may also want to contact the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) at 1-800-929-4040, or visit their web site at www.foodallergy.org. Although they cannot provide specific ingredient information regarding a particular product, they are a good resource to help in the management of your allergies and sensitivities.

 

We appreciate your interest. Please contact us again with any further questions or comments.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bobbi Hart
Consumer Services

[twinturbo]

No corporate response is complete without the condescending final note to consult your doctor or FAAN*.


*Which is OUTDATED to us who seek information because we all already know it's merged to become FARE.

[CMdeux]

No doubt it would be snide to ask;


Gosh!  I had no idea that you were consulting with my physician.  Now that I know, I'll definitely ask him/her which of your items are on shared production lines, though.  That's very helpful.  It'll be much faster to do that.  So, just out of curiosity, do you think that he has country of origin information on hand for ingredients, as well?  You know, just if I happened to be curious about whether or not something were locally sourced.  Has the FDA been made aware that my physician is the one to call about recall investigations? 

 

[Jessica]

I replied and asked them specifically if there are any peanuts or tree nuts in the facility with the frozen edamame and they simply will not tell me. They just repeated the above. These emails were from a General Mills email address both times.

I'm curious how they could assure Shoshana that there is no peanut in the facility, yet they could not tell me. Seems wildly inconsistent. I've always trusted and had no problem with General Mills but this is so aggravating. 

[twinturbo]

I don't think the CS reps truly know anything beyond the scripts they read or what's available in their database. They're most likely discouraged to go off script to increase # of responses per time period.

[shoshana]

When did you get that response from them?  They were very helpful with me and assured me that no peanuts were in the facility or it would be in the may contain statement.  I'm very surprised at this.  They are owned by GM, so it was a bit of the GM response.  But they have no peanut cereals, just a cereal that has almond...

[shoshana]

I guess I'm more comfortable with their O's cereal than Cheerios because:

1.  CF has a Contains and May Contain statement on it; GM never does that with Cheerios
2.  CF has no other cereal that contains peanut or tree nut (except almond)
3.  CF is Kosher Parve (let's not have a debate about the dairy safety of the parve labeling please -- i've exhausted that topic several times over the years)

Am I missing something here?

[CMdeux]

No, I think you've thought it through pretty well, Shosh.

We have used Cascadian Farms cereals in the past-- the granola in particular.  But then DD developed an almond allergy, so a lot of things that were more or less peanut-safe became more questionable for her.  Especially after she reacted to some soy milk on a shared line, and to an Amy's product made in a shared facility with them.

So yeah, with peanut and milk, but not almond, allergy, it sounds like this may be among your lowest risk options.

[shoshana]

Thanks, CM.

DD has had the CF O's a few times in the past few days.  Likes them better than Cheerios...they are crunchier due to the barley, I think.

Most of our decisions (unless we are dealing with a completely allergen-free company) involve weighing some risk.  We have a very low tolerance for risk with regard to DD's allergies; however, I do feel like CF fits into our risk profile.

I welcome more opinions on this though.  Thanks!

[YouKnowWho]

We play the lower of the risk options at the house as well.  Sometimes you have to 

Two things to keep in mind here -

What works for others, won't always work for you in the manufacturing thread.  I made the dumbest decision of my life, or should I say my son's life, when I gave him Canadian Smarties.  Great if you are allergic to peanuts, but when you give them to a wheat allergic child - it is BAD.  I just knew how fabulous they were for a faux M&M alternative and didn't read the stinking label.  (Keep in mind, I am not blaming anyone here but myself - I made a really horrific decision).

Cascadian Farms was not always owned by GM.  I remember when they were bought (I was mad honestly because I don't like big co's taking over little organic ones).  They likely still each have their own manufacturing plants.

[Jessica]

When did you get that response from them?  They were very helpful with me and assured me that no peanuts were in the facility or it would be in the may contain statement.  I'm very surprised at this.  They are owned by GM, so it was a bit of the GM response.  But they have no peanut cereals, just a cereal that has almond...

  I sent the message using the form on the cascadian farms website but the email addresses on the replies say general mills. I asked again if they could just tell me if there are peanuts/tree nuts in the plant with the edamame and they never replied. I'm not too worried about these since dd doesn't eat them but why can they not give a straight and consistent answer? So annoying.

[Jessica]

Oh also, I do not get the impression, from the emails or any calls I've ever made to GM, that any allergens in the facility would be listed as a may contain. They've always told me, since dd was diagnosed 16 yrs ago, that there are allergens in the facility. At that time they said if there were shared lines it would be a may contain but the emails I got don't seem to state that. In other words, the lack of a 'may contain' statement does not mean the facility or even the equipment is allergen free. Only that they don't believe there's a risk.

[Stinky6]

DS ate the Purely O's a lot - they were his main cereal
I felt that they were in a dedicated facility at Small Planet Foods
after the purchase I got maddening responses and I think we stopped buying them
at some point we started again
they do have a "honey nut" flavor - I thnk it's almond and I'm not sure that it actually has any almond in it
DS (PA only - eats almonds safely) eats that cereal occasionaly now - he really doesn't like cereal anymore - which is fine with me
I would feed it to him again though
will someone come and clean my house please?