Allergen labelling and General Foods

Thank you for contacting General Mills concerning 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.

If one of our products contains any of the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy products, eggs, soy, wheat, crustaceans, and fish) or if it contains sesame, sunflower or mollusks, that ingredient is always listed in the ingredient panel, and also in bold letters just below the list of ingredients. If a product is exposed to any of these allergens in the manufacturing facility the allergen will be listed in bold in the 'Contains Statement' just below the list of ingredients. This list is your ingredient assurance for that package. It is not intended for other packaging of the same product. Ingredients may vary from one package to another due to product reformulation. If you have allergy concerns, please read each package ingredient panel.

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,

Katie Gafler
Consumer Services

General Mills and Ghirardelli: Allergy Labelling Heroes!

As I prepare to make six gajillion cupcakes for Colin's birthday party next month, I was already feeling wan and tired thinking about doing them all from scratch.

So I perused online stores and found Cherrybrook Farms... peanut/nut-free mixes!

But I like to order online only as a last resort. So I went to the supermarket to see what I could see.

Ghirardelli clearly marks "Contains: Wheat, soy. This product is manufactured on machinery that also processes peanuts and tree nuts." So that's out... (but thanks for the great allergy labelling!)

Betty Crocker products had the "Contains wheat and milk ingredients" printed, but none of the cross-contamination info. So I gave General Mills a call.

The nice customer service rep said that they do not take any risks, so if there's even the smallest chance that there might be cross-contamination, they put it in the bolded "contains" area of the packaging. In addition, they work closely with FAAN, and will send to allergic consumers any information about changes in their products that influence allergen ingredients.

So Colin will get Betty Crocker cupcakes for his birthday party.

According to Hershey's website, they are so worried about cross-contamination that they process their nut-free products in a different facility. But I'm going to give them a call before I use any Hershey's Chocolate in anything...