To all:

Quite a few people have asked me about the green giant corn. I have
attached the letter that I have sent to newspapers and to pillsbury.
Hopefully if they get alot of responses they will reconsider
contamination their products unnecessarily.

Hazel Green
"It Only Takes One Bite"



                                        April 1, 1997.


To the Editor,

Manufacturers Need to Be More Responsible:

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will print it in your newspaper. Our daughter is
6 years old and she is anaphylactic to milk protein. We are always on the look out for
potential problems when buying foods for our child and we have come across a
problem that I think that the public should be aware of. When we go grocery shopping
we have to read the ingredients of all foods that we buy to make sure that our
daughters allergen is not in the product. This is a precaution that all people with
anaphylaxis/severe allergies must always do. A few weeks ago we came across a bag
of Green Giant corn, which you would presume to be safe to eat, after all it is only corn.
The ingredients said corn. As I was in a hurry that day I did not look at the front of the
bag - really - I do not feel that to make sure our allergen is not in the bag that we
should have to search all over the bag. The ingredients is where it should be written.
Once arriving home I proceeded to make supper - poured out the corn and out popped
a wrapped package of 2 pizza bundles. Yes it was pictured on the front of the bag but
not in the ingredients. I was shocked that Pillsbury would risk this kind of cross
contamination so I immediately phoned them to bring this potential for a severe
accident to occur to their attention. They apologized and offered to send a coupon for a
free bag of corn that I could purchase once their promotion was over. I was appalled
and immediately asked them to recall their corn. They refused. I asked if they would
have put a bag of peanuts in their corn and they said of course not because it is
recognized as a popular allergen. Milk by the way is one of the top 4 allergens. They
claim to be unaware that milk would cause a severe enough reaction to close
someones throat and kill them. I have spoken to many people on this topic and they all
feel that Pillsbury has acted in poor faith by putting the pizza bundles into their corn. In
my personal opinion a coupon would have been the more appropriate choice to make.
Even though the pizza bundles were brought into the plant prepackaged the risk for
cross contamination is so severe that all individuals that are anaphylactic to milk and its
byproducts could not eat the Green Giant corn. I feel that manufacturers have a
responsibility to their customers to be aware of these situations, especially today when
so many people are becoming allergic to many things.

It is important that we must know exactly what is in each product and that is why we
read the ingredients.

People with anaphylaxis to milk need to be made aware that the risk is too great for us
to be able to eat this Green Giant corn containing the pizza bundles.

I have taught my daughter that corn is safe - what was I to tell her when out popped
pizza which she knows could kill her?

As a result, our daughter did not have the corn that night but it does scare me to think
of what would have happened if the pizza bundles did not pop out of the first half of the
bag and we had fed that to her for her supper.

Is a persons life not worth the extra effort of thinking ahead and putting a coupon into
the bag instead of something that really shouldn't be there in the first place?

Hazel Green
"It Only Takes One Bite!!"