Families With Food Allergies

August 16, 2007

Dear Families With Food Allergies,

From the trail of emails, it appears your organization would be interested in touring our facility or inviting a guest speaker to address your group.  Our manufacturing facilities are dedicated to producing the highest quality food and beverage products you have come to expect from Nestlé. Because of this commitment to quality, as well as safety, we do not provide public factory tours. We don't operate a Speaker's Bureau either, but I do have some information to share.

The major foods that cause 90% of the allergic reactions are: milk, egg, fish, crustacea (e.g., shellfish like shrimp, lobster, crab), tree nuts (almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc), wheat, peanuts, and soybean. These are often referred to as the "big 8" and we always label them whenever they are present in our products. If a product does not have one of these allergens added directly, but may contain traces due to unavoidable cross-contact on the same production line, then we include an advisory allergen statement, "Made on equipment that also processes _____."

Some Nestlé products that do not have peanuts or nuts as an actual ingredient may have "peanuts", "peanut traces" or the "This product may contain peanut traces and/or nut" listed in the last place in the ingredient statement. This is done for those people who are allergic to peanut protein and/or nuts.

In many cases, our products, both those with peanuts/nuts as an ingredient and those without peanuts/nuts, are manufactured on or near the same production line. Even though each product is manufactured in separate production runs, and we exercise absolute care in the cleaning procedures between the runs, there is still a remote possibility that a peanut /nut or peanut/nut fragment (trace) may find its way into a product where peanuts are not otherwise added as an ingredient.

Because even a trace amount of peanut and or nut is able to elicit a reaction in people with severe peanut/nut allergies, we feel it is best to list "peanut traces" at the end of the ingredient statement as a precautionary measure.

We urge our consumers to please check the label before purchasing our products. Thanks for your interest.

Roz O'Hearn
Marketing/Communications
Nestlé Prepared Foods Company
30003 Bainbridge Rd, Solon, OH 44139
440.264.5170