A Cautionary Tale (a real one, not a tall tale):
First, I…read morecan't say that I'm writing a super fair review, because I haven't ever been into this donut shop. But my mom bought us some donuts from Olde Towne Donuts. I had a bite of a chocolate cake donut and it tasted fine.
However, after eating a chocolate Long John, my 15 year old son informed me that he needed his rescue inhaler and some Benadryl pills, because he was having an allergic reaction. We didn't eat anything unusual for dinner. And the donut was the only other thing he ate.
When I called the shop to ask if they use any kind of soy protein or pea protein in the ingredients- sure enough, they do. Before calling, I had searched on their facebook page a little to find out it if they had some special feature to their donuts- like "healthier" because of added protein, but I didn't see any mention of ingredients. When I called to ask, the girl who I initially asked wasn't sure what kind of ingredients they used, so I guess a head baker or owner got on the phone and confirmed that they used soy protein in their donuts.
I'm not mad- thankfully my son was pretty quick to recognize it and was home where we were able to give him what he needed right away. Still, I caution not only customers with allergies or sensitivities, but I also have a strong word of advice to the owners: if you don't already have notices of this added protein ingredient posted in the store clearly as a warning, as well as on your website/ social media pages, I urge you to do so. It could seriously be a matter of life or death.
My son has what people typically refer to as a "peanut allergy"; people who truly have that allergy are not allergic to nuts (I suppose someone could also have a nut allergy on top of it), but they are allergic to much more than just peanuts; it is a legume allergy. Legumes are plant foods formed inside pods, like beans, peas, and pea"nuts". Nowadays, there are so many unexpected foods that can cause an anaphylactic reaction for people with a legume allergy, because so many processed foods have protein as a filler (like highly processed frozen chicken nuggets). And now manufacturers are proud to boast their food item has "added protein". It is the legume protein that causes the severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis. Which can often occur immediately upon ingesting the allergen and the life threatening symptoms can progress in just a matter of minutes.
Thankfully, my son's reaction is not immediate- he usually has at least 30min before it becomes serious requiring immediate intervention, and lately he's been able to curb it by taking Benadryl, but he has had many ER visits and epinephrine as a young child. I have often been warned and urged by nurses and doctors not to take the risk of waiting, but to use the EpiPen injector and call 911 as soon as it is realized that ingested an allergen- even before symptoms- or as soon as he has symptoms -even if he's not sure he ingested an allergen.
My point in sharing all of this is to emphasize the importance and seriousness of the matter. Please make it known to your customers in some obvious way (and certainly such that your employees would know) that your delicious donuts are made with soy protein (or pea protein or chickpea protein, or lentil protein- believe me, those are all used as added plant proteins.) Reading labels is second nature to our family, but it's so hard when something fresh made incorporates the allergen into their food that would not typically have added proteins. We love donuts and have eaten them from so many different donut shops and houses of donuts all over the country, but never encountered a hidden allergen in the dough. Let the people know, please!
