Hi Trishka, I wrote to Cadbury more than 3 weeks ago, and after 2 more emails and a phone-call (a bizarre story deserving its own thread 'Dealing with Food Companies') I finally got the answer to the burning questions re Fry's Orange, Peppermint and Chocolate cream bars - and why despite having only vegan ingredients, they are not listed as vegan on Cadbury's website. Here's Cadbury's final email in full (my asterisks):
---Hello,
All of our products contain milk in their ingredients, with *the exception of Fry's Chocolate Cream, Peppermint Cream and Orange Cream*. However, these products are manufactured on the same production lines as products which contain milk in their recipe and therefore there is a possibility of cross contamination. For those consumers with a milk allergy we have labelled of our Fry's range with a warning indicating this risk.
Our website will not list that a product is milk free if it made on the same production lines as milk-containing products. *Even though the risk of cross contamination is extremely small* it is nevertheless a possibility we cannot ignore.
I hope this helps, thanks Sarah
Sarah Costello
Consumer Relations Department - UK & Ireland
PO Box 12, Bournville
Birmingham B30 2LU
t. 0121 451 4444 ---
Interestingly, Whittaker's has the same sort of operation as Cadbury, yet promotes its dark chocolate for the lactose-intolerant and vegans - see FAQs at
http://www.whittakers.com.au :
'*Milk is not an ingredient of our dark chocolate* unlike most dark chocolates available which makes it a popular choice for the many people who are lactose intolerant and *for vegans*. The chocolate is however made on the same production line as our milk chocolate varieties and so may contain traces of milk chocolate.'
[Off topic, for what it's worth, my economic boycott of animal industries doesn't include vegan products which might occasionally be accidentally contaminated with traces of animal-product, because I think it would be counter-productive. Plus I like to gorge on chocolate..]
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