Our Manufacturer Partnership is currently comprised of over 160 responsible manufacturers who agree to disclose precisely how they process 11 allergens during the manufacture of their products, and that includes shared line and facility information you won’t find on the label or anywhere else. In return, they receive free listings in our family of Safe Snack Guides and our interactive Allergence product screening service.
That said, 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.
As we have in the past, we reached out to Ellen Passero, Director Of Quality at Pepperidge Farm, and Bethridge Toovell, Director of External Communications & Social Media for Campbell Snacks to see if anything has changed regarding the Goldfish line as it relates to peanuts and tree nuts.
Here is the company’s official response (emphasis ours):
Regarding your question about which varieties of Goldfish are reliably made on lines that do not also process peanuts and tree nuts, neither peanuts nor tree nuts are ingredients in our Goldfish Snack Crackers and our Goldfish Graham cookies. All Goldfish products are made on dedicated lines that are peanut and tree nut free. We are known by many consumers to be peanut/tree nut free and we are proud that we can provide that assurance. This has been our practice for many, many years.
To the question of which varieties are produced in facilities that do not process peanuts or tree nuts:
We produce a wide range of cookie, cracker and bread products at multiple facilities, and the mix of products produced at each facility shifts with demand. That means, at any given time there may be products being made in a facility that is not processing any nuts at the time, but that same product may also be produced in another facility that is processing tree nuts. However, even within the same facility, we are conscious of allergens and have strict procedures to manage the presence of allergens. Additionally, it is worth repeating, regardless if Goldfish crackers and cookies are or aren’t being made in a facility that processes tree nuts, Goldfish crackers and cookies are always produced on lines that do not process peanuts or tree nuts.
And this addendum to clarify how the manufacture of Goldfish Grahams has changed since our last check-in:
We made modifications to our cookies to remove treenuts from products run on the line on which the Goldfish Grahams are made. So in the past we would qualify “Goldfish, with the exception of Goldfish Grahams” we no longer need to make that clarification. The removal of the nuts was over a year ago and well before the sell by date of any product in market at this time.
Once again, we thank Ellen and Bethridge for taking the time to respond with a definitive answer for the benefit of our readers.
An important note: Since SnackSafely.com began operations a decade ago, we have included the Goldfish line as “Black Dot” items in the Peanut and Tree Nut Edition of our Safe Snack Guide. Such items are from manufacturers that are not members of our Manufacturer Partnership, and as such are not bound by our terms of disclosure.
Due to changes in the marketplace, we will be discontinuing the listing of Black Dot items as of the next update to the Guide in early January. Please refer to this article for more information on the coming change.
We have invited Campbell’s to join our Partnership, if not for all their products, then for their Goldfish line (as they do for their Late July line.) We hope they will take us up on our invitation and will let you know if they do.
Change to the Peanut and Tree Nut Free Safe Snack Guide Coming in Next Edition
