American Gourmet CHAOS Chips

[Guest guest]

As many of you know, on Tuesday of this week (Nov. 15, 2005) I

opened a

bag of Wheat Free Gluten Free Chaos Chips and found pretzels (which

were

NOT Gluten Free). I contacted the company ( American

Gourmet) and

spoke to a receptionist who said a replacement coupon would be sent,

which

I was not happy about. Later that evening I received a call from the

office manager, apologizing for the error, and to send the bag to

her for

evaluation. I took photos of the bag and its contents, as per the

list

mates, and I received the call tag last night. Today I received a

call

from the manager at 's American Gourmet apologizing for the

error.

Here is what transpired in the call:

She stated that they hire a company to produce these products.

She said

that the Gluten free products are never run on the same day as the

products with gluten. In this instance, the products were run on

the same

day. She stated that 153 cases were contaminated, all of which the

sell

by date was March 28, 2006. She called all of the distributors and

sales

reps that these products went to and ordered a voluntary recall.

When I asked about contacting the FDA, she stated that the

distributor

told her that that was not necessary. I was a little uneasy with

this.

She stated that they were able to contact the distributors and the

sales

rep in 1 1/2 days and posted a letter on their website. She was very

apologetic. She stated that she did speak to the receptionist that

initially took my call and that the call should have been handled

differently. She said she would send me a replacement coupon but I

told

her that I was uneasy buying her products and really didn't trust the

company anymore. It's my daughter's health, I just can't risk

that. I

also said that I had posted to this listserv and she said she did

know

about it. So I am sure she is reading this.

In saying that, I appreciate that she was receptive and was able to

contact the distributors to get the bags off of the shelf. My

husband

wanted something more done, but there is not much more we can do

here, but

be on our guard with everything we either eat or give to our

children. If

you have a bag with this sell by date, PLEASE contact the company

immediatly. Prior to receiving the call from the company, I called

the

FDA on my own because I wanted to get the products off of the

shelves as

soon as possible. They returned my call and I was not home. I

returned

their call and they were gone for the day. I intend to tell them

that the

company did do a voluntary recall and that the supervisor was very

apologetic. I, of course after the phone call thought, shouldn't

this be

a mandatory recall? not sure.

As an aside, when I got the mail today, there was a form letter from

the

company with two coupons in it for a free replacement bag. My name

was

not on the letter and it wasn't signed. Must have been from the

receptionist.

Mom of 3yr old Celiac

NJ