Always Read Labels. Really.

You're picking up some items at the grocery store, just a few, and you are meeting with a contractor at your home in fifteen minutes. You have had requests for healthy snacks from your family...and chocolate. Healthy chocolate, OK?

We know from labeling standards that ALLERGEN INFORMATION is directly below the sometimes lengthy ingredients list. We can look there and quickly determine if an item is high risk or low risk. If one of the more common allergens is contained in the item, we will see it listed here. Right?



The allergen information for these California Raisins, which the label describes as Milk Chocolate Covered Raisins, reads as follows:

ALLERGEN INFORMATION: MADE IN A FACILITY THAT PROCESSES PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, MILK, SOY AND WHEAT.

Usually the ALLERGEN INFORMATION is followed by a "CONTAINS:" and with Milk Chocolate Covered Raisins, the CONTAINS:MILK is notably missing on this Brach's product.

Note: Made in a facility is not the same as made on shared equipment is not the same as may contain traces is not the same as CONTAINS.

Read the ALLERGEN INFORMATION first. If it says,"CONTAINS: MILK, PEANUTS", and you are allergic to milk and/or peanuts, you don't have to read any further.

If you don't rule out an item based on a listed ingredient in the ALLERGEN INFORMATION, you still have to read the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS: Milk Chocolate(Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk, Lactose, Butter Fat, Soy Lecithin added as an emulsifier, Salt, with Vanilla and Ethyl Vanillin, Artificial Flavors, Ground Peanuts), Raisins, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin, Confectioner's Glaze.

If you are allergic to milk, soy, or peanuts, you may or may not be concerned about what the facility processes, but if the product CONTAINS allergens, you want to know.




The allergen information at the bottom of the ingredients list is a good place to start, but remember that you read the ALLERGEN INFORMATION to rule an item out efficiently. That alone does not qualify an item as safe. You still have to read the ingredients before you decide if an item is allergen-free.