Oh yes, this was a HUGE stir with the Girl Guide cookies, and it makes me furious that it's all nonsense. It has NOTHING to do with coconut. Here's the official word from Dare:
I can assure everyone that there has not been a change of policy at Dare Foods. Their production facilities are still peanut and nut free. The reason the declaration was changed is because for some types of tree nuts there are no analytical tests available. Dare was advised to remove the claim because there is no way to prove it. Dare still demands raw materials from nut free facilities and doesn't allow nuts of any kind in their bakeries.
I know this won't completely remove the anxiety for everyone, but the claim is now more accurate than it was historically with no change to the products or the process.
I have more detailed information, too. Totally bollocks if you ask me. We don't go around testing eery single product or ingredient we buy at home if we know it comes from a nut-free facility with sourced nut-free ingredients, and if they have certificates from each of their suppliers saying their ingredients are tree nut free, why isn't that good enough? Their former allergen claim of 'manufactured in a peanut-free and tree nut-free facility' would still be 100% accurate!!
Other people had replies that included 'new rules' and 'labelling laws', none of which are true since may contains are completely optional. This all sounds very political, like someone stirred up some trouble with something and now Dare is covering their butt for some reason.
Really, you don't want to get me started. And I cannot even eat Dare products to begin with.
So mad!!
