From: Satchell, Felicia B Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 5:03 PM To: Nalubola, Ritu; Kane, Rhonda R.; Thompson, Susan Subject: FW: FAAN Product-Related Member Calls, March 10-14, 2003 > ---------- > From: The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network[SMTP:FAAN@FOODALLERGY.ORG] > Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 5:12:30 PM > To: Satchell, Felicia B > Subject: FAAN Product-Related Member Calls, March 10-14, 2003 > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > As always, everyone who calls FAAN about a product is instructed to call the manufacturer if they haven't already done so. Maple Syrup - this e-mail is from (privacy): My husband was helping a local maple syrup producer when he discovered that powdered milk is sprinkled on the boiling sap to prevent bubbling. It is not listed on the packages that traces of milk may be present, therefore, it is best to ask the syrup producer what methods they use. Chicken McNuggets - (privacy) called to tell us that dried whey has been added to the ingredients in Chicken McNuggets, which used to be safe for her milk-allergic child. I did confirm on the McDonald's website that dried whey is now listed, but don't know if this is actually a change. Publix Homemade Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream - this e-mail is from (privacy): I had an anaphylactic reaction to Publix Homemade Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream. I am (anaphylactic severe) allergic to tree nuts, sesame, mustard, and passion fruit. I can only assume that nuts were the culprit here. Publix's response has been pathetically ignorant and nonresponsive. They did phone me back from the manufacturing plant (after my repeated calls and sending the ice cream to them) to inform me that nuts had not been processed on the same machine for some lengthy period (maybe 45 days: I have it written somewhere but do not recall) as the same machine processes batches of an ice-cream with pecans. So it seems that the more likely culprit is the chocolate chips in their ice-cream as Publix informed me that they "know nothing about the company that supplies them with the chips." I directed them to call the company and they reportedly did, and informed me, "I asked the company if there are nuts in their chips and the company said no." It was a truly idiotic discussion. Before I directed Publix to contact the chip company (which the plant manager initially had no idea of the name), Publix said that there was "no chance" of contamination, then continued to disclose they had no idea about the origin of the chips. I am sure that you are used to this idiocy. I am trying to find out contact info. regarding the choc. chip supplier so that I may contact them myself. Important: 1. The night that I had the reaction, I had only a small bit (few tablespoons) of ice-cream. Because I do not tolerate the lactose in ice-cream well, I took a fork and scraped off a couple of spoons of the chips and within 2 minutes my chest was severely constricting. I had no other food for many hours and no contamination in my home as no nuts are allowed anywhere near my home. 2. I had a big bowl of this same exact brand/flavor ice-cream (but different carton) on Thanksgiving 2 months prior (with no allergy of course), so I know that the contamination is not in every single container of the ice-cream. 3. Obviously, there is no ingredient or warning on the label suggesting nuts or any of my other allergies. 4. It might be that the fact that nut ice-creams are processed on same machine on intermittent intervals is enough to justify Publix more carefully labeling their product. But my hunch of blame in this particular case really goes to the chips as I made such a careful attempt to pick out and eat only the chips out of the ice cream on the particular night of the attack. Century Resources, Inc. Orange Slices Candy - this e-mail is from (privacy): I just returned from the Emergency Room with my 6 year old son, (privacy). He had an anaphylactic reaction to some candy that he had eaten. I gave him an Epi-Pen Jr. at home when the reaction first occurred and then followed up with a trip to the ER. The candy was manufactured by a company called Century Resources, Inc. Columbus, OH. (800) 444-7977. The label on the candy (which was Orange Slices in a Reusable Screw-top container - Item #463) did not give any indication of peanuts in the ingredients. We called the company from the Emergency Room and found that they did manufacture products that contain peanuts in the same facility. There was no warning of this on the label. We asked them to change their labeling practices for the future. I purchased the candy from a neighbor child for a school fund raiser. I hope that there are not others who are effected by this candy. I do still have the candy left. We would like to get it tested, if that is possible. (privacy) also has allergies to milk, egg, and soy, and tree nuts. When we called the manufacturer we listed all of these allergies along with the peanut allergy. The customer service rep contacted the plant where the candy was made and we were then informed of the possible cross contamination with peanuts. Amurol Confections - this e-mail is from (privacy): I wanted to bring the email to your attention. We recently sent a question to the company asking which products if any are peanut free. The response below is disturbing. I thought companies were required to list the top 8 allergen ingredients in their products. This makes it very difficult to purchase products by reading misleading labeled food/candy. This company makes gum for "Big League Chew" Band-Aid Gum and tape measure gum. We thought by reading the label it was peanut free. It was not until we sent the question to the company that they told us not to purchase. I think the line below is used solely for the company to cover their losses. -----Original Message----- From: Webmaster@amurol.com [mailto:Webmaster@amurol.com] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 4:38 PM To: (privacy) Subject: Re: peanut allergy Thank you for your recent email regarding whether our products or product lines are free of peanuts. Some of our products might contain peanut-derived ingredients. Although all our ingredients are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, some of our suppliers use confidential recipes to combine these ingredients. Consequently, through no fault of our own, we cannot guarantee the absence of items that might be allergens to some individuals. To be totally safe, we regretfully recommend not using Amurol Confections products if you have any possibility of a serious allergic reaction. Again, thank you for your inquiry and interest. _______________________________________ Debbie Scherrer, Member Communications The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network 10400 Eaton Place, Suite 107 Fairfax, VA 22030 1-800-929-4040 Phone: 703-691-3179 Fax: 703-691-2713 http://www.foodallergy.org/ _______________________________________