Frito-Lay, which is known as Lays in Canada, now discloses that several products either contain nuts or are made on equipment that also makes products containing peanut oil.
Here are the foods that now have peanut allergy warnings on Frito-Lay’s U.S. website, some of which many peanut allergic consumers previously considered safe:
CHESTER’S® Flavored Puffcorn Snacks (all varieties)
CRACKER JACK® (all varieties)
FRITO-LAY® Nuts (all varieties)
FRITO-LAY® Trail Mix (all varieties)
GRANDMA’S® Cookies (all varieties)
LAY’S® Kettle Cooked Potato Chips (all varieties)
MISS VICKIE’S® Potato Chips (all varieties)
MUNCHIES® Crackers (all varieties)
NUT HARVEST® Nuts (all varieties)
SABRITAS® Nuts (all varieties)
SMARTFOOD® Popcorn Clusters (all varieties)
Source: http://www.fritolay.com/your-health/us-products-containing-nuts-andor-produced-with-nuts.html Accessed 21 March 2011
You can view the allergen warning for a particular product on pages like this as well: http://www.fritolay.com/our-snacks/lays-kettle-cooked-jalapeno.html
I have Miss Vickie’s chips and Lays Kettle cooked chips in my pantry. My peanut allergic son actually developed a swollen lower lip the other day while eating the chips, and I didn’t question the safety of the chips at all since there is vegetable oil listed in the ingredients and no allergen warning on the package at all. If Frito-Lay is doing things right on their US website, surely they would do it right on the Canadian version, right? Wrong! I went on the Canadian version of the Frito-Lay website, which is www.lays.ca, and surprisingly, I found no allergen information or ingredients lists.
I called Lays customer service, and was first told that the only peanut allergy issue is that they can’t call themselves peanut free, since they don’t take all of the necessary steps to monitor this (like monitoring workers’ lunches for allergens). When I said I’d read the US website and I saw that they’re cooking with peanut oil on shared equipment, this was acknowledged but minimized, as I was told the equipment is given a “wet wash” before being used to make another product.
The customer service representative agreed that a peanut allergic consumer should not eat the listed products, but that was only after I had to dig deeper to get this information. A less persistent caller may have been satisfied with the early assurances that the food is safe.
I was told that Ms. Vickie’s chips sold in the US are made in Canada, and Lays Kettle chips sold in Canada are made in the USA. This peanut allergy alert applies to Canadian products, so please don’t consume any of the items on the above list if you’re peanut allergic.
I am very disappointed with how Frito-Lay has handled this. Even on this allergen page on the US website, there in no listing for peanut allergen in Canadian products (click here). Their failure to provide life saving allergen information in this case is shocking and incredibly dangerous. I encourage you to share this information with your allergic friends and to write to Frito-Lay to voice your concerns. You can click here for their contact information.
UPDATE 18 JULY 2011 – I was just contacted by a 10 year old peanut allergic girl whose lip swelled while eating Lays Original chips. I went back to the two links posted above to look at the allergen warnings and all reference to making the chips on equipment that also makes products containing peanut oil has been removed from those pages. This is very alarming.
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My 2 year old peanut allergic son had a severe allergic reaction which we tie back to chesters cheese puffs. Full body and face hives for 3 days. We are on day four now – oral steroids,zyrtec and time may have finally worked. Your website is the only place I see mention of this product having peanut contamination. As you note in your update, the
frito lay website makes no mention of this product having peanut cross contamination anymore. Do you have any updates? We live in the US, maybe thats the difference. Any suggestions on how I should address this with the company? Its unbelieveable. So glad you have this informative site.
I e-mailed Frito-Lay about the kettle chips and was told that the corn oil that the chips were cooked in had been heat treated so all the corn allergens were gone. Riiiiiigggggght! I had used the Kettle chips until they reformulated them and started cooking them in corn oil. Their reply was kind of condescending, I thought. I have eaten the Vickie’s like with no trouble, but my peanut allergy is tiny, where my corn one is big.
H Susan and MaryAnn. This was really upsetting to me. I’d exposed Jacob to food with traces of nut protein without realizing it. I know that “may contain” labeling is voluntary, but I expected Frito-Lay to have consistent policies and disclose on both sides of the border. Regarding other products, I would check with the company to ensure no cross-contamination. The failure to disclose the risk on the packages sold in Canada concerns me, and I’d want to be sure there are no other errors or omissions with their other products.
My son eats fritos and lays plain chips here in the US as they have never had warnings and have always been safe. it appears as though they still are, yes?
MaryAnn
I allow my daughter (US) to consume Lays products because I thought their allergen listing policy was strong. Now I’m very concerned…ugh! The Kettle Chips have NEVER looked unsafe here. Now I need to reread all their bags. I HAVE heard from the allergy community that they do not use Lays because of a lot of cross contamination concerns. Guess it’s time to take it more serious. Sorry to hear your son had a reaction!
Susan