Gluten Free Jelly Beans!

I recently came across some pretty amazing jelly beans produced by Gimbals, a San Francisco based company. I’m a big jelly bean fan in general, especially the ones which come in all sorts of crazy flavours, so I was very happy to find jelly beans which are not only yummy but also 100% gluten free and celiac friendly!

All of their candy is free of the 8 most common allergens as are their factories so there is no chance of cross contamination in their products. There are no peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, gluten, soy, fish or shell fish in any of their products so if you can’t eat any of these things you can still enjoy these jelly beans.

They make seven different varieties of jelly beans and jelly bean hearts. They are all really yummy but the gourmet jelly beans are still my favourite and I find it very difficult to stop munching on them once I start.

Dots

Junior Mints

In the States, a large number of the candy and chocolate snacks that you find in stores are produced by Tootsie Roll Industries. A lot of the snacks associated with going to the movie theatre like Junior Mints, Dots and Sugar Babies are also made by Tootsie Roll, which always has me wondering which ones are safe for me to eat…

Which Tootsie Roll Industries products are gluten free?

Well… according to their website the answer is all of them!!

The Healthy Living section of their site states this:
Nutrition Labels and Allergen Information:
Tootsie provides the most accurate and updated ingredient statements for each of its products. Consult the Nutrition Chart for each product to determine whether a candy or gum fits into your dietary plan.

All Tootsie products are:

• Gluten-Free
• Peanut-Free
• Nut Product-Free

Tootsie does not use wheat, barley, rye, oats, triticale, spelt, or any of their components, either as ingredients or as part of the manufacturing process.

Corn and soy products are used during the manufacturing process.

Razzles

Tootsie Roll calling...

I wanted to ensure that this information is update and covers all Tootsie products so I gave their consumer line a call. I was a little concerned with the statement that all of their products are gluten free when I saw that they make Andes Creme de Menthe cookies! No one was available to speak to me at that time so I left a message on their answer phone explaining my query and asking them to call me back.

30 minutes later I received a call from a cheery lady. She confirmed that all Tootsie Roll products are gluten free. I asked about the cookies and she said that they although they use the Tootsie Roll name, they are produced by a different manufacturer. She explained that if a product is manufactured by Tootsie Roll Industries then it will say this on the label and this product will be gluten free.

UPDATE: Feb 13th 2012: As I wrote this post a while back I wanted to report that Toostsie Roll Industries still provide the same information regarding the gluten free status of their products. The only difference is that they now mention that Andes cookies are their only gluten containing product. Great! The fact that they do not use wheat, barley, rye, oats, triticale, spelt, or any of their components, either as ingredients or as part of the manufacturing process is pretty great news for celiacs!

All Tootsie products are:

• Gluten-Free (All Tootsie products are gluten free except Andes cookies.)
• Peanut-Free
• Nut Product-Free

Tootsie does not use wheat, barley, rye, oats, triticale, spelt, or any of their components, either as ingredients or as part of the manufacturing process.

Corn and soy products are used during the manufacturing process

Butterfinger

Baby Ruth

I called Nestle North America to find out which of their candy products are gluten free.

This is the list I was given….

• Nestle Baby Ruth
• Nestle Nips
• Nestle O’Henry!
• Nestle Raisinets
• Nestle Sno-caps
• Nestle Bit-o-honey
• Nestle Butterfinger
• Nestle Goobers
• Nestle Milk Chocolate
• Wonka Pixy Stix
• Wonka Laffy Taffy
• Wonka Fundip

I asked if they could also email me a copy of this list, which I received the following day.

http://nestle-consumerservices.casupport.com/eglutenfree.pdf

With this list I also received this email from a Nestle customer representative explaining how they consider the gluten free status of products. I found this very interesting and reassuring to hear that products must also be free of any possible cross contamination before they are considered gluten free.

Dear Ms. Emmerson,

Thank you for contacting Nestlé® Chocolate and Confections.

We consider “gluten free” to mean no gluten ingredients are in the product, whether directly added, or potentially present due to cross-contact. In other words, if a product label has an allergen advisory statement such as “made on equipment” or “facility that also processes wheat etc… “, we do not consider that product to be gluten free.

UPDATE (13th Feb, 2012) Today I spoke with Nestle customer service again. They are much more pleasant and helpful than some other companies I contacted today. They emailed me a copy of their most recent ‘Gluten Free Products’ list and it looks as though it’s still the same products which are safe. This information they say  includes products which to the best of their knowledge are not made with ingredients derived from wheat, oats, rye or barley, nor are these made on equipment which processes products containing wheat, oats, rye or barley ingredients. Sounds pretty good.

http://nestle-consumerservices.casupport.com/eglutenfree.pdf

Reece's peanut butter cups (by Hershey's)

Last week I called Hershey’s….

I explained to the man who answered my call that I was looking to find out which of their products are gluten free as this is not apparent on their labelling.

He gave me this short list (confirmed as gluten free by Hershey’s corporate Headquarters):

• Original Hershey’s Kisses
• Milk chocolate bar (1.55 size)
• Milk chocolate bar with almonds (1.45 size)
• Coco
• Baking chocolate
• Chocolate chips
• Chocolate syrup

My response of ‘Are these really the only products you have that are gluten free?’ was met with an explanation that Hershey’s do have other products where none of their ingredients contain gluten but as these haven’t yet been checked?!? they cannot be added to the gluten free list.

I was told to check the labelling on any products not on this list as there shouldn’t be any hidden ingredients. If a product contains rye, wheat, oats or barley it will be stated on the label. If there is the possibility of contamination of one of these grains this will also be included on the labelling.

Sooo, basically, if there are no obvious glutenous ingredients and no cross contamination warning then we can assume that the product is gluten free.

I took the man’s advice and looked at the back of a Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup (made by Hershey’s) wrapper…there were no obvious glutenous ingredients and no cross contamination warning. According to Hershey’s customer service that means I could safely eat this but can I really trust them if they are not willing to put it on their ‘gluten free list’ and officially confirm that this product is gluten free?

My question to you Hershey’s…..’Why would these ‘assumed’ gluten free products not be on your gluten free list if they are in fact gluten free?!?!?

UPDATE: (March 2012) I called Hershey’s again and was given the same gluten free product list as above. Clearly their customer service people haven’t been given any new or updated information regarding the gluten free status of products because I was given almost word for word the same spiel as the last time I called. Again I was told that many of their other products are gluten free but they can’t confirm this?!? In products with no gluten containing ingredients Hershey’s have procedures in place to eliminate the chance of cross contamination. This sounds good but we celiacs need a more confident list of gluten free products from your company rather than just leaving us to read the labels and figure it out for ourselves.

This information is also relevant to Cadbury’s chocolate in the US as it is manufactured by Hershey’s.

UPDATE: (April 3rd, 2012) It looks as though Hershey’s have finally updated their gluten free list to include more products! This list was updated only a couple of days ago and now includes products like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Almond Joy and Mounds bars. Fantastic!!

Hershey’s state that ’For your convenience, the current products listed below have been fully evaluated and qualify as gluten free using standards proposed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Please note this list is not all inclusive as we have other gluten-free confections.’ So these products listed should contain less than 20ppm and be safe for celiacs. Thanks, Hershey’s!

I was very happy when I discovered that Walgreens, the US pharmacy chain which can be found at various locations across the country, labels all of their own brand candy with allergen information. The great news for Coeliacs is that most of their candy is gluten free!

Their selection includes hard candy, soft candy, mint candy, fruit candy, sweet candy and spiced candy. If it’s gluten free, it’s labelled as ‘Gluten Free’ and if it contains gluten, this will be clearly marked on the nutritional information….simples

More Gluten Free candy

Gluten Free candy at Walgreens

Walgreens also sell Sweet Time candy, again most of which is gluten free and labelled so.

GF Orange Slices

GF Jelly Beans

GF Red Fish

If you find yourself in the mood for something sweet and sugary and you can get yourself to a Walgreens, there will be a large gluten free variety awaiting you….

Snickers are gluten free!

My email to Mars North America:

I am Coeliac and therefore can only eat gluten free products. I live in Scotland but will be travelling throughout the United States this summer and was wondering whether you could provide me with a list of your products, which are safe for me to eat? Thanks, Laura

Their response was unhelpful to say the least…

Dear Ms. Emmerson,

In response to your email regarding MARS CHOCOLATE NORTH AMERICA.

Thank you for your email.

The ingredient statement on each wrapper is the best source for this information. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network advises consumers to rely on ingredient labels, not lists that can become outdated when products change.

Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-627-7852 if you have any specific product questions.

Have a great day!

Your Friends at Mars Chocolate North America

Oh, of course, my friends, I can just look at the label. Why didn’t I think of that? Erm?!!? I guess I won’t be eating any Mars candy this summer! I do find it strange that Mars in the UK were able to provide me with a list of which products are safe for coeliacs.

UPDATE (07/07/2010): I called Mars North America to ask one of their customer service people if they could provide me with any further information on Mars’ gluten free products since their email suggestion of reading the label isn’t something I feel comfortable relying on.

I was surprised and impressed that I was able to get the information I was looking for without even speaking to a real person, especially after the crapppy email response. A recorded message said to press 3 for information on products that do not contain peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, gelatin or gluten. The following message then said to press 1 for a list of products that do not contain gluten.

“The following products do not contain gluten…all m&m’s products, all milkyway products with the exception of the milkyway bar, snickers and snickers dark bars, all dove chocolate products, munch bar. As always please read the label for the most accurate information.”

I’m not sure why they couldn’t have provided me with this list in their email but at least now I have the information. I’m guessing that by all m&m’s they mean with the exception of the new pretzel ones…

UPDATE (13th Feb, 2012) Today I called Mars USA and spoke to a real person. It appears that their recorded gluten free product list is no longer. I wasn’t filled with much confidence and I must say that I will not be eating Mars products in the US any time soon. The woman I spoke to said they couldn’t provide me with a gluten free list as products change too often!?! She also said she could only check on the gluten free status of single products rather than going through a whole list of what is safe. When I asked her about cross contamination, etc her responses were not clear and I don’t think she was completely sure how serious the issue is. She basically said that if someone is really concerned then they should call their helpline. Their number is 1-800-627-7852. Please let me know if you have more success than me.

With gluten free buddies?

Haribo is probably my favourite snack food. I find it really addictive! I’ve always been a huge fan of gummy/jelly/foamy sweeties since my gran bought me bags of pic n mix every Sunday when I was a kid and I love all the colourful, fun shapes that Haribo has to offer. When I was first diagnosed I was over the moon excited when I discovered that most Haribo is gluten free (certainly in the UK at least). A few of their selections contain liquorice which isn’t gluten free but this seems to be the minority.

On The Haribo website you can click on the country where you live or where you plan to travel to, to find more information on Haribo in that country. On the UK site for example when you click on a product it will tell you whether or not it is gluten free. It will also tell you if it’s nut free, vegetarian, etc.

Super Kiddie’s Mix, Gold Bears, Star Mix and Tangfastics are my favourites and all of them are gluten free. Fantastic! I eat Haribo a lot so this is great news. I think it’s awesome.

I notice that on some of the countries sites it doesn’t mention the gluten free status of the product. I would guess that the same products would most likely have the same gluten free status from country to country but I know this isn’t always the case and so it’s probably best to contact the country that manufactured it to double check. The Haribo available in the US for example comes mostly from Spain and sometimes from Germany and France.

UPDATE: I have decided to stay away from regular pic n mix in case of contamination but I found that Marks and Spencer do a type of pic n mix where they have 80 gram bags of sweets seperately packaged and you can pic n mix 3 of these for £1. M&S is pretty good with their labelling and some of the sweets say that they contain gluten and wheat so I of course stay clear of these. I found that they do foam shrimps and bananas and I was happy to find that there was no mention of gluten on these bags. (Perhaps stupidly) I thought these must be safe and on reading the ingredients I couldn’t imagine them being glutified. I nibbled a few foamy delights here and there over the period of a week and I felt fine but still decided I wanted to be certain about their gluten free status. I found a link on the M&S website to lists of the gluten free foods they sell. I couldn’t find my sweets on this list so decided to check the ‘suitable for vegetarians’ list. If my sweets still weren’t on this, I thought, then perhaps it was just because they are too new a product that they haven’t updated their lists yet.  Sadly, my foamy delights were on the vegetarian list so this suggests to me that these sweets are not gluten free. This leaves me wondering however why some of the bags of sweets would be labelled as containing gluten and other wouldn’t if they were still unsafe?

EXCITING UPDATE: I recently came across A quarter of.co.uk, a fantastic website which has made me extremely happy! It’s like an online pic n mix where you choose the sweets that you want and they mail them to you. What’s even more brilliant about this site is that they have a gluten free search button which will bring up everything they offer which is gluten free! My bananas and shrimps are on it so I think I’m going to have to treat myself to an early Christmas present