As our readers know, we partner directly with over 100 companies to have them disclose precisely how they process 11 allergens during the manufacture of their products including shared line and facility information. In return, the company receives free listings in our publications: the Safe Snack Guide and Allergence product screening service.
There are a few popular products we keep tabs on where we do not have a formal relationship with the company. One of those is the Goldfish line of snacks from Pepperidge Farm, a unit of the Campbell’s Soup Company.
The last time we checked in with the company was late 2017, so it was high time to touch base to see if anything about their manufacturing practices has changed with regard to peanuts and tree nuts.
We reached out to our contacts at Pepperidge Farm and received the following reply from Bethridge Toovell, Associate Director, Communications for the company:
I’ll begin by answering your question about Goldfish: Neither peanuts or tree nuts are ingredients in any of our Goldfish Snack Crackers or Goldfish Graham cookies (this is a change from your last communication with Ellen). In addition, all Goldfish products are made on dedicated lines that do not process peanuts nor tree nuts.
- Regarding Peanuts, currently no Pepperidge Farm bakeries process Peanuts.
- Regarding Tree Nuts, some of the Pepperidge Farm cookie and cake products do contain tree nuts in their recipes. We are conscious of all top 8 allergens, and to address and manage the risks of cross contamination between products that do and do not contain tree nuts, all of these manufacturing lines are subject to strict procedures to manage the presence of these allergens, including good manufacturing practices, and robust cleaning and allergen management practices.
Pepperidge Farm follows all government regulations regarding the labeling of our products and always labels the presence of any of the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, wheat, soy and shellfish), no matter how small the amount. On a growing number of our products, we also include a “Contains” statement at the bottom of our ingredient statements to detail the presence of any of these top allergens in the product. This statement is being added to product packaging on a rolling basis; we expect it will take a period of time before all labels contain this statement. In summary, regarding the top 8 allergens, if the ingredient statement does not list the individual allergen(s) and/or they are not within the newly added “contains” statement, you can be assured that we have been thorough in our efforts to eliminate cross contamination.
Bethridge Toovell – Associate Director, Communications
So to summarize, all Goldfish cracker and cookie products:
- Are manufactured in peanut-free facilities;
- Are manufactured on dedicated tree-nut free lines in facilities that are not guaranteed to be tree nut-free. (Note: this is a change from the previous response from the company when Goldfish Graham Cookies were not guaranteed to be manufactured on tree nut-free lines… now they are.)
Once again, we thank Ms Toovell and Campbell’s for their response.
