After last week’s voluntary recall for possible sesame in our 5 new products (see explanation on our Allergen Declarations Page)we wanted to provide you with a follow up to let you know what the sesame testing verification showed and what next steps are being taken.

We have now received the results from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA):

CFIA Testing Shows ALL Negative Results

Since sesame is a top 10 declared food allergen here in Canada, all samples went to a CFIA lab that is specifically accredited for sesame testing.

Rob and I decided on the voluntary recall last Saturday before verification could be made because we felt it was in the best interest of all of our customers to err on the side of caution. Even though these results are negative, we would take the same action again based on the information we had to go on at that time.

We are going to continue with both the voluntary recall and labelling with May contain sesame for 2 reasons

1. The information that is communicated out there right now is that anyone with sesame allergies should be looking for a “May contain sesame” warning on the label of those 5 products. This information will continue to live on the Internet for a very long time and would just be too confusing as to what label is correct if we don’t have the warning on those 5 products listed in the press releases.

2. We want to monitor and verify sesame testing over a long period of time to ensure that we keep getting negative results before we remove the May contain sesame warning.

We are asking all of those with sesame allergies to heed the May contain sesame labels until further notice.

Thank you so much for the outpouring of support that we have received from so many customers. It helped us get through a very stressful time for both our team and our family.

Sincerely,

Alana and Rob Elliott, Founders, Nonuttin’ Foods Inc.

One of the many food allergy research projects being funded right now is a Chinese Herbal Formula. In the last several years, it has been quite well publicized, especially since the Food Allergy Initiative raised a significant amount of money to provide a research grant to the project.

It looks like that money has paid off as peanut allergic mice who were given the formula have shown no peanut anaphylaxis compared to the control group. It appears that the formula was successful for up to 6 months. It is very promising news and now the research can enter phase 2; human trials for those with peanut, tree nut, sesame, fish and shellfish allergies.

To read more, see this link: http://www.faiusa.org/?page=Chinese_Herbal_Formula_to_Enter_Phase2_Trial

If you’ve been on the website in the last couple of days, you will see that we will be discontinuing the Vanilla Caramel Granola Clusters in the 30 gram packs in the new year.

Why are we discontinuing this item?

Before July, all granola products in both the US and Canada (bars, granola, granola clusters) had sesame warnings on them as a “may contain”. This was because while we are a sesame free facility, the crisp rice that we were using as an ingredient had sesame on the line where it is made and so cross contamination was a possibility.

In July, we changed all of our US granola bars and granola pouches and the Canadian granola pouches to a new formula with a new crisp rice that has no sesame potential cross contamination. The Canadian granola bars will be moving to that new formula at the end of January as well, meaning that all Nonuttin’ products EXCEPT for the 30 gram vanilla caramel granola clusters will be sesame free.

Rather than cause confusion as to what may have potential sesame cross contamination, we will discontinue the 30 gram vanilla caramel granola clusters, completely remove the old crisp rice from the facility and truly be able to say with certainty that every Nonuttin’ product is sesame free.

While we can appreciate that those who love the little 30 gram packs will miss them, it is a priority with us that there is no confusion as to our sesame status, especially as it is a Canadian top 10 allergen and those with sesame allergy are growing in number in both Canada and the USA.

As indicated in an earlier post on our change to take sesame off of our labels, I had indicated that there would be other small changes to the ingredients as well.  These are the changes that you need to be aware of although they will not change any of the top food allergen declarations:

Sugar:   Currently we use a soft brown sugar that is made of cane juice but is refined.  In the new ingredient formulas, this ingredient will be changed to evaporated cane juice which is unrefined.

Chocolate Chips:  Although we are still finalizing this change, if all goes as expected, the new chocolate chips will have the anhydrous dextrose (corn based) removed and an additional ingredient, salt, will be added.  The 70% dark chocolate chunks will remain the same.

Crisp rice:  Not only will the sesame warning be removed due to the new crisp rice, the addition of honey as an ingredient (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt), will mean that Nonuttin granola bars and granolas will now no longer be considered vegan as honey is considered an animal by-product. 

As indicated in the Say Goodbye to Sesame post, here are the details about which labels are changing with expected dates:

We will be moving to the new labels for the USA only at first.  This should take place within the next 8-10 weeks and will occur with all of the granola bars and clusters at the same time.

Canadian labels are expected to be changed within the next 4-6 months.  Why?  Health Canada has been promising changes to the allergen and gluten labeling for some time but most recently they have indicated that the new regulations will be posted in Spring 2010 which could be all the way until June.  So that we can make sure that we meet all new regulations, we will be waiting on Canadian packaging changes until those announcements take place.

In the meantime, be sure to read your Nonuttin labels.  If it still has the sesame warning on it, the formula is still containing the current crisp rice, NOT the new.  All new labels will only say:  Contains: soy (chocolate varieties) or May Contain:  soy (fruit varieties).

One of the things I struggle with as both the mother of a food allergic child and as a manufacturer is changing ingredients in our products.  This could be removing products, bringing in new ingredients or changing a recipe.  Believe me, every choice is carefully reviewed, often put out to our customers for feedback and truly agonized over.  I walk in your shoes and know exactly how our family feels when a favorite gets put onto the unsafe list.

In April 2007 when we moved to pure oats so that we could respond to customer requests for a gluten free product, it was a Catch 22.  Moving to gluten free would allow so many more people to enjoy Nonuttin products.  Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to move to a gluten free crisp rice from a new supplier, just as that supplier decided to put sesame on the same line. 

Although we’ve always had the crisp rice tested by a lab for sesame before coming to the Nonuttin’ facility and the testing has always been negative, I felt that a sesame warning must still go on our granola labels (bars and clusters).  So we labelled and carefully outlined why we were doing so on our website.  All the while, I’ve been looking for a crisp rice that could meet all of our allergen requirements and remove the sesame without requiring a 10 000 lb custom order.

I’m happy to say that we’ve finally done it.  No more sesame warning!  Read more »

I’m glad to know that I’m not going crazy; well, not in one sense at least.  It had seemed to me that we’ve fielded many more sesame questions over the last couple of years and it seemed that sesame was an allergen that was present with 1 or more other food allergens, such as peanut or dairy.  My hunch has now been proven right.

At John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Robert Wood has indicated that their evidence shows that sesame allergies have grown the most of any food allergy in the last 2 decades and is now in the top 6-7 food allergens.  This statistic, gleaned from patient files over 3 years, was presented at the recent American Academy of Asthma and Immunology annual meeting.  You can read more about this article at:  http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=98576 

Sesame is already listed in Canada as one of the top 10 food allergens and in the UK and Europe as one of the top 12 but the FDA is reviewing whether sesame should be declared in the US (it’s currently not in their top 8).   In my limited experience, I’ve found that many US parents of sesame allergic children aren’t aware of where sesame might be lurking beyond the obvious crackers and hamburger buns simply because manufacturers aren’t declaring it.  As the use of sesame becomes more common due, in part, to the growing ethnic food availability, it will be very difficult to avoid, particularly when used as a whole as opposed to paste.  Sesame testing for such tiny particulate matter can literally be hit and miss.

If these numbers are accurate, it would appear that sesame should be added to US declarations sooner rather than later.