Peppridge Farm Chessman Cookies

[anxious]

I found out that in my son's after-school chess program, they sometimes get chessman cookies. Anyone with PA/TNA have any issues with them?

We usually just stick tot he Peppridge Farm Fish Crackers and Breads.

Dealing with PA/TNA.

[Jessica]

This is an email from them that I read recently (on facebook). Someone had asked about peanut and tree nut.

Pepperidge Farm follows all government regulations regarding the labeling of our products. In the case of the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, wheat, soy and shellfish) we list those ingredients in the product ingredient statement, no matter how small the amount might be. We do not include any of those items under the broader listings of "spices" or "natural flavors". We recommend that consumers always check the ingredient statement and evaluate the product based on the statement.

If your concern is with Peanuts and Tree Nuts, I can tell you that at this point in time, none of our Goldfish Crackers(excluding Goldfish Grahams), Bread, Hamburger and Hot Dog Rolls, Croutons, Stuffing, Turnovers, Garlic Breads and Puff Pastry products currently use this ingredient. A few of our Cookie and Layer Cake products do contain Tree Nuts, but no Peanuts.

Our company policy is to clean and sanitize production equipment to minimize the risk of cross contact with any top allergens. In the case of just a handful of products, where we feel that despite the application of good manufacturing practices there may be some risk of cross contact, we will use a "may contain" statement on the label. Our decision to use a "May Contain" statement is made on a product-by-product basis with consumer safety being the ultimate goal.

So as a summary, if the ingredient statement does not list the allergen, and there is no "may contain" statement in the ingredient statement, you can be assured that we have done our best to eliminate cross contact and are not aware of any top allergen in the product.

Thank you for visiting the Pepperidge Farm website.

[GoingNuts]

... And this is why I stopped buying their cookies.  They just make so many nutty cookies, that I just don't trust their cleaning process. 

[nonuteen]

I called Pepperidge Farm yesterday and received the same statement as above.  They were very nice and thorough but could give me no further information concerning whether their breads were run on these same "cleaned" lines or facilities, just that I should trust the ingredient statements.

So, what do you think?  Are you comfortable with this and using their products?   We have not used them much in the past but would like to.  They currently have a pumpkin swirl bread out that looks yummy and the ingredient statement reads safe for PN/TN.