Consumer Care

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Old Dutch makes a sincere effort to commit to quality. We understand that consumers demand nothing but the best, something we strive to achieve in every snack.

We take pride in the quality of customer service we provide. Bellow are some of the most commonly asked questions that we receive. However, if you have a more specific question, concern, or comment, please feel free to submit an inquiry directly to us.

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1. Which of your products are gluten free?

Please review our gluten free products here.

2. Do your products contain any peanuts or nuts?

We use a blend of sunflower and canola oil to cook our chips. The kettle varieties of potato chips used to be cooked in peanut oil but we switched to sunflower oil in May of 2001. Now ALL of our potato chips are peanut-free. All of our Tortilla, Extruded Corn, and Pretzel products have always been peanut free.

3. Why do you discontinue flavours?

We perform frequent and extensive feasibility analysis on our entire product portfolio. Some products do not remain viable and have to be discontinued. This allows ongoing development of new and innovative items and flavours.

4. Are there trans fats in your products?

Trans fat is formed when liquid oils are hydrogenated, or changed into more heavily saturated solids such as shortening, for the purpose of increasing the shelf life of processed foods. We, at Old Dutch, do not use hydrogenated oils in our Potato or Tortilla Chip manufacturing processes. This eliminates the presence of harmful trans fatty acids in our products.

5. Can you tell me what allergens are in your products?

Allergens are fast becoming a major concern for consumers. Old Dutch Foods has always believed in making sure any allergens used are listed on the ingredient declaration; so that consumers  can quickly identify the allergen of concern.

6. How many potatoes does it take to make a bag of chips?

The potatoes at Old Dutch are weighed, not counted. It takes approximately four pounds of potatoes to make one pound of potato chips.

7. What is Trans Fat and how did you remove it from your products?

Trans Fat is not natural and is associated with processing. Trans-fatty acid is one of two possible forms of fatty acids, the other is CIS forms; found in grains as the oil is extracted. This is naturally produced. Trans was first found to be associated with the process of hydrogenation of the oil. Therefore, the type of oil and processing parameters may create conditions similar to hydrogenation and potentially create the transformation of CIS to TRANS. What Old Dutch has done in the past several months is to make the necessary changes to minimize conditions precursors to the formation of Trans. We have driven the Trans to below zero. (Less than 0.1%) Visit our trans fat section to learn more: HERE

8. How are you addressing recycling concerns when your bags cannot be recycled?

Old Dutch Foods Limited is concerned about the environment and we package our products with this concern in mind. We have reduced the thickness of the packaging film (plastic). The boxes are made from 100% recycled paper and can be recycled up to seven times and still have the required fibre strength. Cardboard boxes, (shipping cases), are made from a minimum of 30% recycled paper. The boxes are returned to our plant and reused at least three times. When they are too worn, they are picked up for recycling. Old Dutch Foods Limited is always striving to improve our packaging and deliver a fine quality product to our consumer.

9. Why do you only fill the bags 3/4 full?

All of our products are sold by weight not by volume. A certain amount of air must be in each package to prevent breakage during shipping and handling. We want our customers to receive our products in the best condition possible. All of our products are packaged and weighed by extremely accurate computerized equipment. If by chance, a product is found to be underweight; our policy has always been to cheerfully replace the underweight item.

10. What are the green edges I sometime find on my chips?

The “green spots” on the potato chips are the result of a sun struck potato. This occurs when the potato is not completely covered with soil during the growing season. All potatoes pass through an inspection line prior to processing and we do our best to eliminate this.

11. When did Old Dutch Open in Canada?

Old Dutch Foods opened in April of 1954 in Winnipeg.

12. How many potatoes does each plant go through a day?

The potatoes at Old Dutch are weighed, not counted. Approximately 250,000 – 300,000 pounds of potatoes are used in each production shift each day at the Calgary plant. This plant generally operate 3 shifts per day.

13. Are your potatoes supplied by local growers?

Potatoes are delivered to our plants by truck from local growers and put into large storage bins.

14. Why were all plant tours in Canada discontinued?

Old Dutch Foods maintains the highest possible quality of all our products. Implementation of quality procedures and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP's) are followed to reduce the possibility of contamination. Old Dutch Foods employees must wear hair/beard nets, steel toed shoes, latex gloves and any additional protective wear to ensure a safe environment to both our products and our employees. Employees must follow strict hygiene practices that include a layered step procedure prior to entering any processing areas. These steps are repeated every time an employee leaves the processing area.

To ensure top quality products to our customers, Old Dutch Foods has made the executive decision to cease all plant tours. Safety and liability issues are one of the reasons and the other is the risk of contamination from outside clothing, shoes, perfumes, nail polish, jewellery etc. We apologize for any inconvenience however, we appeal to your understanding that all precautions are being made for you, as a consumer to be confident that the Old Dutch Products you enjoy are free from any outside contaminants.

15. What steps has Old Dutch taken to reduce its impact on the environment?

In a spirit of continuous improvement, Old Dutch Foods Ltd. has recently installed a state of the art biological waste digestion system that far exceeds the expectations of the traditional waste water treatment systems. In the digestion system, residual waste from water is subjected to microbial decomposition through metabolic pathways (catabolitic – biochemical reactions); the end point of which is water, very minimal carbon dioxide (CO2) and microbial growth. The metabolic ATP (energy) and minerals (N, S, C...etc.) extracted from the wastewater are used to sustain the life cycle of the microbes leaving very minimal waste to the environment. Although experimental at one plant, we pride ourselves in being one of the very few companies in this country to have taken that step.

Our distribution cardboard boxes are recycled about 3 times before they are disposed of in a recycling system beyond the plant. In each plant we collect and separate streams of waste: Raw and finished product Food Waste for animal feed; film, cardboard and paper waste for recycling purposes.

Our fryers are equipped with oil demister pads (high column/stacks made of filters that remove excess of oil that would otherwise be emitted with the steam in the environment. At times, the mixture of Air/Steam is also recycled through the Heat Exchanger's combustion system.

As stated earlier, like any other operation in, Canada, our impact on the environment is closely monitored by Environment Canada's NPRI program. You may consult their web site on the internet.