Saturday, February 5, 2011

Are Cheerios safe for a child with peanut allergies?

Are Cheerios safe for a child with peanut allergies or not?  According to the following letter from General Mills' Consumer Services, they should be.  The Allergy Warning identifies wheat as the only possible allergen.  So, it seems as though the Mulit-Grain Cheerios that we currently have in our cupboard should be peaunt-free.  Wondering how accurate this is?  Could these Cheerios still be cross-contaminated?

Cheerios Web Response regarding the use of the 8 allergens

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,
Deanna Walker
General Mills
Consumer Services

1 comment:

  1. Allergies are such a tough thing. Our daughter has an anaphalactic (sp?) allergy to tree nuts and we had to call an ambulance after we trusted a label. Since then, I don't generally trust labels.

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