Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Bertoli Olive Oil - Shame on You

This is an email I received after filling out an online form. In the form I requested info on their Light Tasting Olive Oil. I also listed all the allergens we are avoiding.
I must admit it's a really disappointing response - which really - to me does not answer or address my questions.

Hello Denise,

Thanks so much for writing!

It is important to know that Unilever takes a proactive role in managing
all food allergy issues.

Unilever also follows good manufacturing practices. These are
established procedures to identify potential risk areas to prevent
"cross contact" between allergen and non-allergen foods.

Filling lines are not necessarily cleaned/washed after filling one type
of sauce (e.g. Old World Style Plain, then Marinara), but will be
flushed between varieties (e.g., Old World Style and Chunky Gardenstyle)
Every precaution is taken to protect against components of one product
mixing with another, and to ensure accuracy of ingredients listed on the
label.

Unilever has both accurate labeling and good manufacturing practices.
Unilever focuses of the eight most common allergies identified by both
U.S. FDA and the Food Allergy Network. These allergens are eggs, milk
and dairy products, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish
as well as any ingredient that may contain gluten.

Unilever takes great care to be certain that the ingredient statements
of all of our products are accurately labeled and are in full regulatory
compliance as outlined by the FDA/USDA guidelines.

As always, if you cannot determine whether the product contains the
ingredient in question, you should not use it.

Kind regards,

Your friends at Unilever
dfp


Then when I called their information number I was told by the woman on the phone that if I wanted more information than the limited info she was providing, I would need to have my doctor (YES, THAT'S RIGHT MY DOCTOR) write a letter to some Unilever department. She could not tell me anything in regards to sesame, but simply seemed to read off the above email. If you've ever asked your busy doctor to do anything like this - you can imagine the feat that these people at Unilever are requesting.
We use Bertoli, but I am looking for an alternative. The don't value their customers as far as I am concerned.

Any reco's in olive oil - someone mentioned Trader Joe's California Olive Oil - can anyone confirm?
Thanks

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