Quaker Oats Company: FAIL!

Two of Amelia's friends are big fans of the tasty (albeit sugary and not-so-great-for you) Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal, so their moms serve them at playgroup now and then.



The moms nicely asked if Amelia could have some, so I read the label and as you can clearly see, the only top-8 allergen is wheat, which Amelia can, and does, eat. Can't miss it, it says CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS in big bold letters, nicely calling out their allergen for people who are reading labels. Excellent work, you guys.



So... all systems go, right? Not so fast! A quick perusal of the front of the box shows a Kosher OU symbol (standing for the Orthodox Union, the world's largest kosher certifying agency) as well as D right next to it. About.com's Guide to Popular Kosher Symbols says that "'Dairy' or 'D' printed near the kosher symbol on the food package indicates the product is kosher and contains some milk or milk derivative."



Weird, right? So I call Quaker Oats and get a nice but SUPER dippy customer service rep who clearly didn't know anything at all. She just said that the "D" is KOSHER. Ya think, Golda Meir? Then she "accidentally" hangs up on me. Charming. So I call back and get another perfectly nice but also unhelpful guy, who also says that Quaker labels for all allergens (great) and that if there is a risk of even cross-contamination they would label for that, too (also great). He even gets a bit frosty with me and tells me they "go above and beyond" at Quaker with labeling. Listen, guys, that is swell, but what up with the D? He also tells me that the "D" on the front of the box is "something Kosher." Oh, I see. Toda Moshe Dayan. (Yeah, that's thank you in Hebrew, folks. I heart the interweb.)

So, in closing, I have no clue why there is a D on the front of this cereal, other than some representative of the Kosher certification agency felt that the food wasn't Pareve -- which means contains neither milk NOR meat. I won't be feeding the food to Amelia, at least not yet, but I would like to get to the bottom of this, just out of curiosity. Maybe a call to the Orthodox Union is in order? Stay tuned... But for now, a big FAIL to you folks over at Quaker Oats. Listen, no shame in having milk in a food, just freakin' label for it.