Can you be a peanut free facility with peanut oil?

Hello All,

We are a granola cookie manufacture, with a peanut free facility.

We are looking into using Cashews which most contain peanut oil. We understand that peanut oil is not an allergen and we should have no concern there.

Our worry is having the word peanut oil on our packaging as well as the peanut free facility statement. Can you be a peanut free facility with peanut oil?

Any insight or knowledge would be appreciated!

Thank you!

You could sidestep the entire issue by sourcing cashews that don't have peanut oil. I've previously been at processors who have used cashews with canola or sunflower oil.

This is for a potential costumer, We are leaning toward not using it, but both the costumer and suppliers we have spoken to give us "its not an allergen" answer. We understand it not being an allergen but we don't feel great about any form of peanut in the facility. 

Thank you for any help! There seems to be two different sides to the argument. Suppliers say its fine there's no allergen. But can you say you are a peanut free facility and bring a peanut product of any form(allergen or not) into production?

This is the response I get most.

"In simplest terms since peanut oil is not an allergen you have nothing to worry about having it in your facility.  

The only area on the packaging where it is listed is on the ingredient panel.  

We have to ‘coach’ people on this all the time as this is not something widely understood."

THANK YOU!

It's interesting from an allergen categorisation point of view, but I would take the position that you couldn't continue to claim to be a peanut-free site if you handle any form of peanut or peanut derivative Irrespective of whether peanut oil is technically classed as an allergen. If it's important to any of your existing customers that you're operating a peanut-free site, I would expect them to view it as a misleading claim if it turned out you were bringing a peanut derivative onto site.