Boulder-based Free2b Foods issues recall on Chocolate Sun Cups

BOULDER — Local company Free2b Foods on Friday issued a recall of some of its Sun Cups chocolate candies due to possible cross-contamination with milk ingredients.

The items being recalled include Chocolate Sun Cups — both in single- and double-cup purple packaging — with both UPC codes of 895444001405 and 895444001443 and sell-by dates of Aug. 2, 2017; Aug. 4, 2017; and Aug. 7, 2017.

Boulder-based Free2b over the past year tweaked the recipes of its Chocolate Cups to be dairy-free. That coincided with the company transitioning its manufacturing facility from a Top-7 Allergen-Free facility to a Top-8 facility, indicating that no dairy ingredients are present in the facility.

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Free2b spokesperson Hilary Martin said in a phone interview that some Chocolate Cups were made with the new dairy-free recipes before the transition of the facility to dairy-free was completed. Those Chocolate Cups, marked dairy-free on the front of the package, contained a disclaimer on the back that indicated they’d been made in a facility that produces dairy products. But after a customer notified the company of an allergic reaction, Free2b decided to pull the affected products from store shelves to eliminate any confusion and the possibility of cross-contamination.

Free2b gained its dairy-free certification for the manufacturing facility on Sept. 1, eliminating the risk of cross-contamination of products made since then.

The recalled cups were distributed nationwide in retail stores. People with milk allergies who have the recalled cups should photograph the package and UPC codes, and then dispose of them or return them to Free2bFoods, 5305 Spine Road #E, Boulder, CO 80301. The company will provide reimbursement or replacement products with new Chocolate Sun Cups.

“Our DNA is in making safe treats for families that have severe allergies and food sensitivities,” Martin said of the decision to recall the Chocolate Sun Cups.

Founded in 2008, Free2b started in response to a father’s plea to make a peanut-butter-cup-like chocolate cup that was safe for his peanut-allergic son. The company, which did business as Sun Cups until adopting the Free2b moniker earlier this year, now makes four flavors of Sun Cups, as well as a line of chocolate bars. Its snacks are sold everywhere from Target and GNC to small local stores.

Martin declined to disclose revenue for the company but said it employs between 15 and 20 people at its manufacturing facility and offices in Gunbarrel.