My search for a rice milk that’s safe for my peanut and nut allergic son continues. Many of my readers will recall the allergen issues that concern me about Rice Dream brand, which you can read about here. I was excited to find Natur-a rice milk made by Nutrisoya, since at the time I could see that the only other milk they made was soy milk. I inquired by e-mail a couple of times to ensure that they don’t make any nut milks in their facility, but I didn’t receive a reply.
My question was answered last month when I saw Natur-a almond milk on the shelf at my grocery store. To view their almond milk page, click here.
The company website says they’re peanut free on their certifications page, which could easily mislead tree nut allergic consumers. That page is here. There’s no allergen information on their FAQ or ingredients pages.
On their health page, they say the milks are free of lactose and casein, and since it’s certified kosher pareve instead of kosher dairy, I suspect they’re not made on shared equipment with dairy. You would need to check with the manufacturer to be sure.
I would also be careful about consuming their Glace frozen dessert, which they describe as peanut AND nut free on this page. It’s made with their soy milk, and my concern is that it’s now made on shared equipment with almond. My rule with my tree nut allergic son is not to use any items made on shared equipment with nuts, so I deem these products unsafe for my home.
UPDATE: I was sent this by a reader who received a reply from Nutrisoya: “FYI our production is made on shared equipment however, recognizing the extreme allergen risks, a thorough aseptic standard CIP (sterilization/cleaning) is part of all start up procedures.” She stated that her son is allergic to nuts and soy and asked what allergens are present on the shared line. Instead of replying with specific allergens, she was informed that “Given proper CIP no other allergens are present.” Allergic consumers cannot rely on assumptions that cleaning is adequate. These products should be labeled “MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF TREE NUTS (ALMOND) AND SOY” or “MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES TREE NUTS AND SOY”.
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I found your website while searching for a way to report my son’s
anaphylactic reaction to Silk Light Chocolate Soy Milk. He is peanut allergic. We avoid nuts but Silk claims their equipment is cleaned and checked for cross contaminants before each switch (from almond to soy milk). When my son was recently in the care of his Grandmother, he drank some of the Silk and immediately developed throat and gastrointestinal symptoms. His grandmother gave him the EpiPen and drove him to the ER. Thankfully he’s fine now, but I wanted to share this with others in the food allergy community. My son is 8. This happened last Friday. Thank you for what you’re doing to help spread awareness.