Unlike the millions of people in recent years that have self-identified themselves as “gluten intolerant” or even worse “allergic to wheat,” peanut allergies are quite real and for many quite fatal. Frito-Lay announced a voluntary recall of a number of its Rold Gold brand pretzels on Tuesday owing to the potential for containing peanut residue not listed or identified on the label.
Rold Gold pretzels follow on Hostess Brands’ voluntary recall for the same reason
A week after Hostess Brands called for a recall of 71,000 cases of Ding Dongs and Zingers for the potential presence of unidentified allergens, Rold Gold announced a recall of its Tiny Twists, Thins, Sticks and Honey Wheat Braided pretzels and others with “guaranteed fresh” date between June 28 and August 23 of 2016.
Obviously, for consumers with no nut allergies, if you had bought that nonsense to put into your body you may as well go ahead and it them, unidentified peanut residue might be the healthiest ingredient in any of those products. Hostess Brands also recalled a number of crunch, chocolate, devil’s food and powdered.
For anyone who has a deathly allergy to peanuts and money trouble it might me time to do some shopping today, get your epi pen ready or drive to the hospital and Bon Apetite goes the lawsuit.
2016 has been a reasonably “recall free” year especially if compared to 2015 which I dubbed the “Year of the Recall.” By June of last year, millions of cars and others products were recalled by Toyota, General Motors and others.
Recalls track back to Grain Craft
The recalls were actually not the fault of Rold Gold (Frito-Lay) or Hostess Brands but are rooted in a April recall by each company’s flour supplier, Grain Craft. That’s not to say there was the known presence of peanuts but the flour came from a mill in Georgia where peanuts are also used and was mistakenly shipped to the others.
Grain Craft was quick to point out that it does not produce peanuts in a statements that read, “These recent recalls bring to light the challenge of agricultural cross-contact, which is the result of customary methods of growing, harvesting and shipping of wheat and other agricultural products.” Rather the company was exercising “an abundance of caution, in consultation with the FDA, to help ensure that our customers’ peanut affected flour products don’t reach consumers.”
It appears that Frito-Lay and Hostess simply followed the company’s lead.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 Americans die from food allergies and cause an alarming 30,000 emergency room visits annually.
Hostess has said that it knows of two reactions from its products while the pretzels have yet to cause any as far as Frito-Lay knows.
“While those who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume products containing peanut allergens, the amount of peanut exposure from use of the flours and affected products is considered to be low and not expected to cause adverse health effects in the vast majority of peanut allergic consumers,” Hostess said in a statement.
Having seen a friend twice succumb to a peanut allergy in two days time when he came to visit me in China, I understand the gravity of the danger and tip my hat to all three companies who have recalled their products.
