Recall on Tofutti's Vanilla Cuties for dairy contamination. Other flavors uneffected.

[LeftyMom]

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/tofutti05_09.html

Tofutti Brands Inc. Announces Precautionary Recall of 12 Pallets of Vanilla Cuties Due to Possible Trace Level Milk Contamination

Contact:
Steven Kass
908-272-2400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- May 12, 2009 -- Tofutti Brands Inc. has completed a precautionary investigative recall of 12 pallets of its 8-Pack VANILLA CUTIES mini sandwich frozen dessert novelties (UPC 0-20188-01301-2) due to possible trace level milk contamination reported for a limited number of lots shipped which were produced in July of 2008. VANILLA CUTIES are labeled as Milk Free and persons who have an allergy or severe sensitivity or intolerance to Dairy products run the risk of serious or life-threatening injury if they consume products with milk ingredients. Tofutti Brands uses stringent quality controls to prevent milk contamination of its products and sells more than 60 million individual VANILLA CUTIES each year.

From early March to early April 2009 Tofutti Brands received telephone reports from 6 consumers who experienced skin rash symptoms after eating VANILLA CUTIES produced at a minor production facility during 3 days in July of 2008. No illness or serious injury has been reported and no further reports have been received. The suspect product in question was identified as having been produced at only this one minor facility and the 12 pallets shipped from the suspect lots have been recalled. The bulk of these 12 pallets were recalled from the New York City metro area as well as from some distributed to the Midwest, New England, the Mid Atlantic Region and California. No complaints from consumers were received from the Midwest or New England Regions. Investigation and reports from Distributors and store visits indicate that none of the suspect product remains in distribution and it is not currently being offered for sale.

The suspect product in the above 12 pallets is identified by the labeled Manufacturing facility code 360-300 which will appear on one of the two end flaps of the box of the VANILLA CUTIES. Consumers who may have purchased VANILLA CUTIES bearing this code are urged to return them to the place of purchase for full refund. This recall does not involve any of the Company’s vanilla or other flavored TOFUTTI CUTIES manufactured at its other facility. Consumers with questions may contact the Company at 908-272-2400, Monday-Friday, from 9:00AM-5:00PM EST.

[Ignis]

1. Ick. Good thing I bought the Mint Chip ones.

Has anyone tried the strawberry ones?

[LeftyMom]

2. I get the Soy Delicious ones instead.

Toffuti won't say if they use bone-char sugar or not, so I'm not totally sure they're vegan. I'd prefer a company that uses dedicated vegan equipment, which Turtle Mountain does not, because I have really bad dairy allergies, but I do trust TM to keep an eye out for cross-contamination. I worked with a supplier of their in a previous job and they're very meticulous about what goes into their product from what I can tell.

[Ignis]

3. Hey, that's good to know.

I like their products, but now I'll go out of my way to support the company. :)

[Tektonik]

4. I did contact them once and they said Cuties were vegan

but they didn't elaborate on the sugar they use. :shrug:

[LeftyMom]

5. They won't tell anybody what sugar they use.

Having worked for a vegan food manufacturer and answered a lot of customer inquiries about ingredients and their vegan-ness, sourcing, environmental impact, etc, I can tell you anybody producing vegan food honestly (and almost all health-food manufacturers anymore) answers that question specifically on the label (ie "evaporated cane juice" "turbinado sugar" or "beet sugar" rather than just "sugar") precisely because otherwise consumers can't really tell if it's vegan and because many non-vegan consumers prefer less refined sugars.

I don't know for sure, but if they're not answering the question I would say it's a pretty safe bet that they're using plain old white table sugar, which probably isn't vegan.