Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Annie's Homegrown - Listed Allergens - Warning Corn

8-16-06

Much of this blog will probably end up dire news about companies, FDA, FAAN, etc ignoring our pleas for help, but today is a day of good news.

Annie's Homegrown has included corn on its list of allergens at the bottom of the ingredients. It is not required by law, as only the top 8 allergens according to FAAN/FDA are required to be listed, but Annie's has taken a step forward in the right direction by including corn in its list of allergens.

Letters and inquiries into Annie's products has lead to other encouraging news as well. Several of their products are corn-free and some are even made in corn-free facilities. We've found Annie's to be extremely helpful in sharing any knowledge about their products with us, and so I have to give them many kudos. They even checked with their suppliers to make sure their ingredients are corn-free as well.

Annie's Homegrown reply of corn-free products as of this month:
Cheddar Bunny Crackers (Cheddar, Whole Wheat, White Cheddar, and Sour Cream & Onion)
Micro Mac - made on shared equip with corn, but no corn in actual product. (the website claims these to have corn starch though the company itself claims them to be corn-free, check the boxes)
Shells & White Cheddar - corn-free and not made on shared equip, but corn is present in the facility.
Bulk Pastas - corn-free and not made on shared equip, but corn is present in the facility.
GF Rice Pasta - corn-free, not made on shared equip, corn not present in the facility.

Annie's Homegrown has been so cooperative and helpful, that I just feel obligated to give them kudos, though our human guinea pigs are still out testing whether these products are indeed corn-free.

*** 9-1-06 *** Update: Several have tested these products and they are corn-free. Do make sure not to mistakenly buy their Deluxe mac & cheese as it does contain corn. Be careful of the micro-mac (read labels) as this product was not tested due to labeled corn.

4 comments:

reginae said...

Annie's has some great products -- I like their stuff alot.

Tricia said...

Just one warning about annie's that they may not even be aware of: Annatto is a coloring that is usually mixed with unlabeled corn starch to prevent caking. I found this by having reactions to orange cheese and then eventually finding a label that said annatto (with corn starch). It appears to be present in all orange cheese and cheese products with annatto, in my experience

V said...

The annatto was directly and specifically questioned to Annies. They said its corn-free.

Unknown said...

Real annatto is corn free it comes from the achiote tree and it's used for food coloring. How ever companies and facilities can make annatto from corn it's cheaper