Juice Plus Chewables and Capsules are SAFE; Complete drink mix may have traces of tree nuts.

From: Product Inquiry [mailto:c.madero@Juiceplus.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 4:41 PM
To: Michelle Tagliamonte
Subject: RE: Complete and Peanut allergy

Hello Michelle,

We are glad to assist you.  Unfortunately we have to have our products made by
contract manufacturers, and the rest of the products made by the plant can vary with
time.  Since there are now some other products made in the plant that may include
tree nuts, that is why the statement is on the label.  This statement is required by
law, but it does not mean the plant is sloppy, in fact given our own quality audits,
and those of NSF (the plant is certified by NSF as well), I can tell you the chance
for possible cross-contamination is extremely unlikely.

The capsules and the Chewables are made in other venues, and those plants are
completely free of any tree nuts.

Thank you,

Juice Plus+® Customer Care
140 Crescent Drive
Collierville, TN 38017

PHONE (800) 347-6350 FAX (901) 850-3061
customercare@juiceplus.com
https://www.JuicePlus.com
 
Michelle wrote:
 > Thank you Dr. Madero. I am wondering, do we have any plans to move to  a  peanut-free facility any time in the future? It does not make sense to  me  that we would  be utilizing a place where peanuts are processed, when we know our  customer base is largely people working to address health issues-  allergies  being one of them. Can you give me some insight that I may share with  my   customer about this?
 > 
 >
 > From: CRM_Carlos Madero [mailto:C.Madero@JuicePlus.com]
 >
 > Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 8:53 AM
 > To: Michelle Tagliamonte
 > Subject: RE: Complete and Peanut allergy
 >
 >
 > 
 > Hi Michelle,
 > 
 > The warning on the label is precisely for those people with deathly  allergies to make their decisions accordingly.  The plants have the  best  cleanup and tracing methodologies to   prevent contamination, but as you mention, since a speck of allergen  can  trigger a reaction, they need to know, and we should not try to  influence  their decision.
 > 
 > Best regards,
 > 
 > Carlos F. Madero, Ph.D.
 > Director of Quality
 > NSA, the maker of Juice Plus+
 > 140 Crescent Drive
 > Collierville, TN 38017
 >
 > Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 8:38 AM
 > To: Carlos Madero
 > Subject: Complete and Peanut allergy
 >
 > 
 > *** This is a redirected message that was originally             ***
 > *** addressed to: customercare@juiceplus.com                     ***
 > *** On Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:50:15 -0600                           ***
 > 
 > 
 > I have a customer who uses Complete daily with her son, and her son  has a  severe peanut allergy. She is very concerned about the warning on the  label  stating that we process in a facility that processes peanut  products. What can I tell her about the mearsures we take to ensure  cleanliness of our product, and are there any plans to move to a  facility  that is peanut free?

Lou Malnati's Pizza

Hi Christine,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.  We have contacted our food safety consultant regarding your peanut allergies.  We do not use any peanut oil in any of our products or at any location and are safe to consume. Any outside dessert products (cheesecake and brownies) are in a sealed package and not viable to cross contaminate the pizzas.  The manager at the Gold Coast location was correct.  The frozen pizzas are made at the restaurants and at an FDA approved facility using no peanut oil.
I hope that this helps.

Debbie
From:     loutogo
    Subject:     RE: Tastes of Chicago Contact Info
    Date:     October 10, 2011 8:40:39 AM CDT
    To:     Young Christine

Barbara's Bakery (Puffins, Wheatabix) - NOT SAFE FROM TREE NUTS

Date:     September 1, 2010 12:12:35 PM CDT
Subject:     RE: Contact form inquiry from Barbara's Bakery website

Christine:
I believe that you and I just spoke, so to recap, all of our cereals are produced in a peanut free facility except our Peanut Butter Puffins.  Our Shredded Spoonfuls and Shredded Wheat cereals are not run on share equipment with products which contain tree nuts, but are in the same facility as.  All of our other cereals are run on shared equipment with products which contain almonds and hazelnuts and, although thorough cleaning is done between products, these should be avoided by highly sensitive individuals.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Kathy Zorn
Technical Services Coordinator
Weetabix North America
Barbara’s Bakery Division

Chicago Restaurants that Accommodate Food Allergies

American Girl Cafe, Water Tower Place

Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano

Big & Littles Restaurant, but ask each time to make sure

Bistro 110

Blaze Pizza

Bojono's Pizza

Busy Burger, Taylor St

Dog Haus Biergarten - Avoid battered meats (eg corn dog) as batter contains some sort of tree nut.  You can sub grilled onions for Onion rings. Request fried items to be prepared in the "vegetarian fryer" to avoid potential x-contamination.  Cookies, no surprise, are not safe.  Ask for Toni - she completely understands the food allergy risks and can guide you. 

Epic Burger

Fish Bar

Forever Yogurt Express

Igor's Pelmeni

Interurban Boat House

Jet's Pizza

King's Bowl - Kudos to Kings Bowl for a nice evening and for being food allergy friendly.  For the record, if you have peanut/tree nut allergies, steer clear of all fried items and certain breads.  But you can eat pizza, cheese quesadillas, avocado toast (if they use sourdough toast), salmon (subbing out the cauliflower for sautéed vegs), steak tips and mac n cheese.  Bowling is $7/game + $5 for shoes. Date can run $80+ with parking and 2 games.  It's an upscale bowling destination.

Marcello's, A Father & Son Restaurant, 645 W North Ave. - call ahead, explain, and ask to have your food items baked on the conveyor belt oven (nothing with nuts goes in there).  They use nuts on salads and on gorgonzola flatbread that is baked in the pizza oven.  They have gluten free pizza dough that they bake on parchment.

Mario's Italian Lemonade, Taylor Street

Medici on 57th, Hyde Park - 1327 E 57th St, 773-667-7394 - no peanuts on menu but attached bakery uses nuts.

NYC Bagel Deli

Old Grounds Social,

Orange

Quartino Ristorante

Range

RJ Grunts

RL Restaurant - they can accommodate severe food allergies (peanut, tree nut) in their scratch kitchen.  Just have to avoid the bread basket, but they make their own challah burger buns so no need to avoid sandwiches! 

Safe House Chicago

Sushi Mon

Wildberry Pancakes


Wishbone, 3300 N Lincoln Ave. says all food is cooked from scratch "so they can make substitutions like omitting dairy or nuts".  need to call for more detail.  773-549-2663

New York Slices (Highland Park) - totally nut safe. http://nyslices.com/index.php

yummy earth lolipops - safe

Tahini: some brands are safe!

Cedars - SAFE!!!! KRINOS FOODS - Thank you for your inquiry. We pack the Tahini at our facility and we do not handle any peanuts or tree nuts. However, we purchase Tahini in bulk from 2 different suppliers and cannot guarantee that their plants are not cross-contaminated. Our apologies.

Sesame King - SAFE!!!!  Made by Sunshine Foods (info@sunshinefood.com).  Sold in bulk via Amazon, and available in regular roasted and light roasted.  This company's entire business is sesame seeds.  No other seeds or top 8 allergens involved.  They own their facility and it's wholly dedicated to cleaning, roasting and grinding sesame seeds.  See response below:



Hello Uniqeladee,
Sorry for the delay in response. Our facility only processes sesame seeds and no other nuts are present in our facility .  I hope this helps.  Please let me know if I can assist your further.
Regards,
Emile Maroun Jr.
Sunshine International Foods, Inc.
26 Spruce St. - Methuen, MA 01844
Tel:(978)837-3209  Fax:(978)837-3161
www.sunshinefood.com

Newman's Own - pretzels are safe, cookies not

Thank you for taking the time to write. Newman's Own Organics products do carry an allergen statement on them where applicable. All of our cookies have an allergen statement that reads- 'manufactured on equipment that may process products containing peanuts, other nuts and milk powder'.  Our pretzels are made in a facility that is nut and dairy free, but does have sesame. If you have questions about other specific products, please let me know and I will find the information for you.

I hope this will be of help.

Peggy Westenhofer
Director, Customer Relations
Newman's Own Organics
831-685-2866

What to ask a caterer or a really nice friend who wants to make/bake nut-safe foods...

THE QUESTION TO ASK:
Is there a risk of nut protein (even dust particle sized) in the food, either from actual ingredients or cross-contamination?  More specifically, from:
(a) residue* on equipment, prep area surfaces, prep or inadvertently shared serving utensils, or oven, or
(b) airborne dust** from nuts used in other foods being prepared in the same facility, or
(c) ingredients that may have hidden*** nut protein contamination, or
(d) processed ingredients that could have their own cross-contamination issues?

You can stop there and hope that they are informed enough to think that through.  I use the info below to answer their questions or nudge the conversation along so that all of the traps are run...

THE BACKGROUND DETAIL TO KNOW:
*As for residue - it's sufficient to scrub utensils, prep areas, pots/pans and stove/oven that may have touched nuts with soap and water.  Scrubbing with a "soap" (not sanitizer) is important to remove proteins cuz they are sticky.  Oven cleaning cycle isn't really sufficient because it incinerates what's in the oven but doesnt get rid of it, ... and nut proteins allergens are intensified when roasted and fly around more easily when in ash form.

**Airborne dust would be present in places like ice cream stores with open dishes of toppings, Chinese restaurant kitchens with lots of nuts and nut oil being cooked/burned and smoke resulting, a nut free manufacturing line adjacent to other lines that use nuts in their product, bakeries that use nut flour or nuts in anything.

***As for ingredients, some innocent items are actually hazardous for the person allergic to Tree Nuts and Peanuts:
(a) Bread/bread crumbs - is the bread potentially cross-contaminated?  Is the manufacturer's policy to disclose even potential cross-contamination?  (Not all manufacturers do this - It seems that only the largest manufacturers face enough potential liability that they voluntarily do this.) Artisan breads are nearly always off limits for ingredients and facilities.
(b) Flavorings - almond extract is not safe, but artificial almond extract may be safe.  Some vanilla extract is not safe because it's made in the same facility/on the same equipment as a nut extract.
(c) Chocolate - many chocolates are flavored with nut extracts or are made on equipment that also makes chocolates containing nuts.  Usually, pure cocoa powder is safe though.  Examples: Hershey's plain kisses are ok, Tollhouse chips are not, Nestle Crunch bars are not, Trader Joe's chocolate chips are ok but their white chocolate chips are not (last I checked).
(d) Spices - some spice mfr's also process nuts and seeds.  McCormick's tells me to avoid any of their blends, but that single spices are ok.
(e) Processed ingredients (e.g. tahini, international cuisine sauces, pre-seasoned items) are often potentially cross-contaminated.
(f)  Bulk bin ingredients are very risky.
(g) Local small producer ingredients often risk cross-contamination and I avoid them - they share equipment and have always been unable to speak to whether other users have left nut residue.  They are also exempt from detailed labeling laws that apply to large mfrs.  (e.g. Bob's Red Farm flours are made on shared equipment)  I stick with major food manufacturers that face enough risk of liability that they disclose potential cross-contamination.
(h) Anything baked in a commercial facility, unless that facility does not use any peanuts or tree nuts or ingredients that contain peanuts or tree nuts.
(i) If you can wash it with agitation, a food cleaning agent and water, it will be ok (e.g. raw fruits/vegs).
(j) Foreign made ingredients or foods - I avoid because they are not subject to all US labeling laws, and do not usually disclose risks of cross-contamination.
(k) Mixes - if from a big manufacturer, you can generally rely on the labels.  If from a "medium" manufacturer, it gets hard - you have to call to find out their labeling policy.  Jiffy cornbread is not safe, Trader Joe's cornbread is safe, Duncan Hines/Betty Crocker baking mixes are often not safe, Pillsbury is usually safe if the label doesnt include nuts in the allergy disclosure, Trader Joe's "Trader Josef" cake and CHOCOLATE icing are safe but the other cake mixes at Trader Joe's are not. Back To Nature's Granola Classic is the only reasonably priced granola I've found that is safe.  No other flavor of their granola is safe though.
(l) Candy and Gum - I have a list of safe and non-safe.  Skittles, non-chocolate Wonka, Tootsie Rolls, Dum Dum's, Smarties, Hershey's plain Kisses, most Peeps, all Spangler, all Wrigley's are safe.  Bazooka Bubble Gum is not safe (it's made in Mexico and the company cant comment on allergy safety because of that).
(m) Sunflower Butter is safe from the perspective of its ingredients, but then you have to ask about the facility and risk of cross-contamination.

Bubble Gums: Double Bubble (Tootsie) and Hubba Bubba (Wrigley) are safe

Bazooka (by Topps) is not safe - it's made in Mexico and Topps says no cross-contamination info is available.

Bubble Yum (by Hershey's) - pending (customer service closes at 4pm)

Wrigley - Hubba Bubba brand - ALL GUMS made by Wrigley are SAFE, so Hubba Bubba is safe in all flavors and forms (customer services says we can get at Costco but call first to make sure of stock, and also at CVS, Walgreens, Dominicks)

Kraft - Cadbury - Bubblicious - they can't say... you have to read the label and it will disclose any risk of cross-contamination.

Tootsie Roll - Double Bubble - ALL TOOTSIE ROLL PRODUCTS ARE SAFE - they use no peanuts or tree nuts in any product or facility... Double Bubble is widely available (e.g. CVS, Walgreens)

nestle crunch in any size are not safe

hershey plain milk choc kisses are safe