Talking Allergies

I think I might have found milk, nut and egg free jelly beans. I have been searching for a few years now for safe jelly beans but with no luck but today I found Life Savers Jelly Beans at Zellers. They are pastel shades with some interesting flavours: raspberry, mango, cotton candy, watermelon, blueberry, pina colada and banana. The ingredient list seems okay for my daughter. Just the natural and artificial flavours need to be checked and of course cross contamination issues. But there are no warning labels. I called Wrigley about some suckers a month ago and I believe they told me they use may contain warnings. I will check this out on Monday. Has anyone else bought these Jelly Beans?

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Are Jelly Belly? I know they are milk-free.

I am pretty sure that Jelly Belly have traces of nuts. I opened the package last night for a taste. Some of the flavours I don't like - some of the unusual ones - watermelon, pina colada. But the blueberry, raspberry and cotton candy are very good. Anyway I will contact the company on Monday.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Yes they do.

Sorry about that! Good luck on your hunt.

I'm almost 100% sure that Kerr's jelly beans are free of egg, dairy, peanuts, and nuts. I called them awhile ago to find out. I found them at Shoppers Drug Mart in Ottawa but have had a hard time finding them elsewhere.

Unfortunately my kids don't like jelly beans so it wasn't the treat for them that I had hoped it would be!!

See also a discussion of Kerr's jujubes at http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=1097& .

I also found Life Savers Gummies "Fruit Explosions" the other day at Loblaws and they appear to be safe - although they do have natural flavours so I will call to ask. So it's entirely possible that the jelly beans that you found are safe, Kate. If you call, let us know what you find out!

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Karen, I found Kerr's jelly beans last fall too and I called about them. I was given different information however. The woman I spoke to said that they had made a change in production lines and the jelly beans had traces of one of our allergens. I forget which one. The suckers are still okay for us. I will let you know what I find out about the Wrigley jelly beans.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Thanks Kate. That's good to know about the Kerr's jelly beans. If the kids liked them I would investigate further, but as it is... we just don't bother.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

I was able to contact Wrigley's today and the jelly beans are safe. They do not use or have any peanuts, nuts or eggs in their products. They do have some candies that contact milk but they are made at a separate facility. The woman I spoke to also said that they make jelly beans in regular flavours also. I will have to look for these. Yah!

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Thanks for the update, Kate.

I got the same info for Life Savers Gummies "Fruit Explosions" by Wrigley's - they are safe for peanut, tree nut, dairy, and egg. (I tried one and they are rather weird - with liquid in the centre. We will see if the kids like them!)

They also told me that they clearly label for the top 9 allergens and will indicate if there is a risk of cross-contamination.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

I found some dairy/egg/nut/peanut free jelly beans ( and they are Kosher!). They are called Gimbal's and they are exactly like Jelly Bellies. I bought them in a specialty food store in Merrickville near Ottawa called Mrs. McGarrigle's Fine Foods. The store also carries a line of peanut/nut - free chocolates called Simply Nut-Free.

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daughter: 6 years tree nuts, peanuts

I googled them out of curiousity, because I was curious if they were also gluten-free. And they are! They've a nice allergen statement on their site:

http://www.gimbalscandy.com/

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on Gimbal's jelly beans in Manitoba? I tried googling them, but couldn't find any info on local distributors. My DH and DS's really love jelly beans, and those would be great.

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1 son allergic to eggs, peanuts, green peas, chick peas, lentils and tomatoes
(avoiding tree nuts and most other legumes too)
1 son allergic to eggs, and has outgrown peanuts
Both with many environmental allergies, asthma and eczema

twinmom,
a lot of health food stores in my area will do special orders if there is enough interest. since their products are free of a lot of allergens, they might be keen to carry them in the store. i would ask a few stores and see - a couple of mine have done special orders for me.

I think I actually saw them in the Gatineau (Hull) Wal-Mart a month or so ago. They were in a small package with multi-flavoured jelly beans. The kids didn't like the taste of them (almost like eating Bertie Bott's Many Flavoured Beans from Harry Potter...) so we didn't buy any more.

Do you have a Wal-Mart in your area? You could always ask...

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma