Trader Joe's Shredded Wheat Warning!

[colormist]

I picked up some Trader Joe's shredded wheat (plain variety) a week ago. I was eating it for about a week when I noticed something yesterday. One of the pieces of shredded wheat had small white lines on it.

At first I ignored it and thought it was flour. Interestingly enough, I had been feeling sickly all week. As I ate breakfast, I paid closer attention to the taste and less attention to the television. It tasted very remotely sweet.

Apparently, Trader Joe's makes their regular shredded wheat in the same machine and same cycle (probably on the same day) as the Frosted Shredded Wheat. The white bits were sugar. There were partially frosted wheat squares throughout the box.

The label said it contained only wheat.

I wrote them some feedback on their product in hopes that they'll do something about it.

[julienc]

Yikes, thanks for the warning!

[colormist]

Ha! Finally got a response from Trader Joe's yesterday:

Dear Mrs. Mitter-

Thanks for contacting us. There is no added sugar in the Shredded
Wheat. Only what is on the ingredients panel is what is in the cereal.
While these are made in the same facility as the frosted version, the
lines are taken apart between the cereals and completely sterilized in a
ten step process ran under strict regulation. HACCP is a systematic
approach to identifying, evaluating and controlling food safety hazards.
We require FDA regulated GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and HACCP
(Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program of our vendors. In
addition, our Quality Assurance Team audits our vendors to monitor their
facilities and practices. Please feel free to return the cereal to any
one of our store locations, as they'd be happy to get you an exchange or
refund.

Sincerely,

Marci
Customer Relations



I hope this helps!

Marci

Customer Relations

I don't think she understood me. I wonder when the last time they had an unexpected quality check on the shredded wheat machine. :\

[Tammy]

I actually work in a food manufacturing plant (Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee, Lucks, Gouldens Mustard, Crunch n'Munch, Andy Capps, plus others). We follow the HACCP and GMP's that she is talking about. If they are followed the way they are supposed to, Things shouldn't get crossed. We are very strick about them. EVERYTHING has allergen labels, stickers, etc on them. When lines are changed from one product to another, all the MAIN allergens are identified and double checked to be sure they are not cross contaminated.

But notice I said MAIN allergens. The top 5 that all companies are concerned about are:
Dairy (Milk and cheese included)
Egg
Soy
Wheat.
Peanuts and nuts.
Notice what is missing? When I asked about it in a meeting on allergens one time, I was told that there are hundreds of allergens out there. They could never be concerned with all of them. And the government is also only concerned with the main ones. Things such as type of sugar, onions, plus all the other small ones just aren't focused on.

Now I know our plant, and I know that what it says on the label is all that is in the product. All of our lines are tore apart and cleaned every night on 3rd shift and inspected by a government insp before we are allowed to start back up. BUT it is because we have MEAT CONTAINING products. USDA is involved big time. When we are running a non-meat product (such as macaroni and cheese), the Gov't insp has no say in that area at all. So...........it makes me wonder, how much meat is in shredded wheat and just how much can they get away with? I would guess quite a bit.

I also know that when we, as workers, make some personal complaints about something we don't like to the gov't men, they tell us that we are actually one of the cleanest plants out there.
So again, I would never doubt that it is indeed sugar on that shredded wheat, no matter what kind of policies they have in place.

And as far as surprise inspections..........We run products under many different labels. Great Value for Wal-Mart is by far the hardest to please. They actually have their own inspectors come into the plant and they are harder to please then the gov't. (Actually The Canadian gov't is pretty strict also. We cringe when they come). But as far as a surprise inspection........probably never. They always know when they are coming. Maybe not by a lot of time, but enough to get something minor like sugar, cleaned up. And as for how often, USDA is there daily, but for Wal-Mart, Canada, etc, maybe once every 6 months, and more likely once a year or so.

Now I'm not trying to dis the other companies. I just know that just because they have all the right policies on paper, and they require the FDA's HACCP and GMP's to be in place, it's still up to the people in the plant to follow them on a daily basis. Did they have machine trouble that day and was behind schedule? Did they have someone breathing down their necks wanting the "change-over" to take less time? Did the cleaning person feel sick and just want to go home that day? But of course they aren't going to tell you those things. And it all looks good on paper.

Well, I guess I'm done ranting here. It's just one of my pet peeves at work. It USED to be something that no one cared about. I'd see them mixing items and products all the time, and when I would say something, the answer would be "Oh well." Now The last several years we have seen a big turn-around with our plant. We never cross-contaminate anymore. And the last year has really had a big allergen awareness push. We are even down to having things color-coded. So it just makes me hopeful that maybe other companies are also doing things better.

[colormist]

Now I'm not trying to dis the other companies. I just know that just because they have all the right policies on paper, and they require the FDA's HACCP and GMP's to be in place, it's still up to the people in the plant to follow them on a daily basis. Did they have machine trouble that day and was behind schedule? Did they have someone breathing down their necks wanting the "change-over" to take less time? Did the cleaning person feel sick and just want to go home that day? But of course they aren't going to tell you those things. And it all looks good on paper.

Exactly! I've never had this problem before with any other brands of Shredded Wheat. I was really surprised when she flat out denied my claim. I guess I should have kept the rest of the box for evidence, but then there wasn't that much left after I figured out what was the cause of my illness. I'm just amazed that she wouldn't even consider that their vendor isn't always following code. Which also makes me wonder what else they might be slipping at.

My husband also worked for Morning Star Farms/Kellogs and wasn't even allowed to let a box touch the floor. The sheer amount of chemicals they sprayed around the plant to keep the place clean was astonishing.

[Tammy]

It's really nice to hear that Morning Star Farms/Kelloggs keep their polices in place. It's nice because I always wonder when it's a company that doesn't handle meat. We also make the Gouldens Mustard, and Franklin Crunch N Munch. The C N M is in another building. Although we have daily USDA in the canning areas, those other depts NEVER see an inspector. He doesn't even walk through the door. It's only our own in-house policies that keep things there the same as where the inspector is. We also can't let anything touch the floor. If it does, it goes into the trash immediately. Of course some things we think they take too far, but I'd rather it be too far than not far enough.

And I completely agree with you on wondering how lax they might be with others. Even though the policy may look good on paper, and sounds good, doesn't make it so.