Save the (pareve) chocolate chips!

[vettecat]

For those who haven't heard, Trader Joe's chocolate chips are changing from pareve to dairy. This creates a problem for anyone who keeps kosher and/or is vegetarian, vegan, or lactose-intolerant. Save the (pareve) chocolate chips - sign the petition!

Comments

[browngirl]

*trots over, pen out*

[vettecat]

Thank you! :-)

[ladymondegreen]

Thanks for the alert. I have signed the petition.

[vettecat]

Great, thank you!

[teddywolf]

I put in a signature.

[vettecat]

Thanks very much!

[c1]

So it's worth noting that TJ's "pareve" chips might be anything but.
(Disclaimer: I have no clue as to the veracity of this blog post.)

Today, Dani Klein actually contacted the OK Kosher Certification Agency today and got to the bottom of this story. He was told that the chocolate chip product itself is not dairy, but the product is bagged at the end of the assembly line and neither Trader Joe's or the OK Kosher Certification Agency can guarantee that dairy chocolate chips don't also mix into the bag. This means that a bag of Trader Joe's pareve chocolate chips may or may not have some dairy chips mixed into a bag. That is why the OK is taking the position that these bags of chocolate chips should bear the OK-D certification as if they were dairy. Further, Klein was told by OK officials that the response he received via Twitter was an error and should have been redacted.
(From:http://blog.rabbijason.com/2012/05/trader-joes-kosher- ( ... )

[vettecat]

Interesting... thanks for the link.

[mercurysparkle]

I completely understand why the Dairy designation would apply if they change the bagging process. My mom and I had this happen with a particular brand of chopped tomatoes. We were using the same brand for years - kosher, no HFCS, no fillers, low sodium. All of a sudden, we couldn't find them anywhere. Period. 6 weeks later they were back on the shelf - not kosher, not low sodium and the first ingredient: corn syrup. This is a national brand! I was horrified. We spent months trying to find a suitable replacement.

[vettecat]

How awful! I hate when they radically change a product but don't tell anyone. I hope you were eventually able to find a good substitute.