Talking Allergies

"But be assured that otherwise thorough sanitazitions norms and processes are respected. " In a food plant wouldn't hand washing be considered a norm? I can't imagine that it isn't. The health inspectors would be all over that.

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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

ethansmom - I saw your post from a couple years ago, and I just wanted to double check if the information was still up to date, and the answer I received was relayed from Regal, but it actually came from CeDe candy... It really does sound like a "We don't want to be sued..." type answer, but it still makes me a little uneasy about it...

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Me - Kim - No allergies
DH Ben - 31 - Allergic to nuts and peanuts, lots of environmental allergies.
DD Anne - 4 - Asthma. Allergic to dairy, eggs, mustard, kiwi, peanuts, wheat and barley... for now...
DS Francois - 1 - No allergies so far...

Gave Ce De Candy Co. another call -- everything remains as in my original post. I feel confident after my conversation with the Rep. but everyone has their own comfort level. She explained that they can't call themselves "peanut and tree nut free" because they don't restrict what their employees bring in for lunch, but they do have good manufacturing policies in place, etc. -- there wasn't a heavy emphasis on "buyer beware" -- she just stated it as a fact. Here's my other post: http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/vie ... 3537#23537

Does anyone know of any brand of lollipops or something similar that are safe for a dairy, egg, wheat, barley, mustard allergic kid (also avoiding nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, and seeds)?

My little one is 2, too small for Rockets, hard candies or gummies. I'm afraid of choking hasards... I need a candy that will be safe for her and other kids for our daycare's halloween party!

Any suggestions? And where could I buy them.

TIA

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Me - Kim - No allergies
DH Ben - 31 - Allergic to nuts and peanuts, lots of environmental allergies.
DD Anne - 4 - Asthma. Allergic to dairy, eggs, mustard, kiwi, peanuts, wheat and barley... for now...
DS Francois - 1 - No allergies so far...

On the safe Halloween treats topic - AL received a reminder from a representative of Nestlé's agency about the "100-count box of Nestlé Fav’rites".

She reminds that they are free of peanut and "combine Canada’s most popular chocolate bars, Aero, Coffee Crisp, Kit Kat, and Smarties, in a snack-sized, portion-controlled format."

She continues: "All of the bars are manufactured in a peanut-free facility and are perfect for school lunches, Halloween, or just for snacking."

Re Rockets - AL mentioned them in a small item in the Fall issue (pg. 16). We, too, checked out what they had to say and felt assured about their manufacturing practices and level of allergy awareness.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

http://www.collegefarmorganic.com/OurProducts.html

We buy these lollipops.

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daughter: 6 years tree nuts, peanuts

http://www.thecandytree.ca/

The web-site says "We pride our selves on the fact that we do not use any chemical preservatives, or any other superfluous ingredients in the manufacturing of our lollipops. As well our product is Fat Free and Gluten Free. " As well as being peanut free.

I couldn't find a list of ingredients -- but it sounds like they are allergy aware, so it might be worth contacting them to find out about the other allergens you are dealing with.

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

Thanks for the lollipop suggestion! I'm going to inquire directly about ALL my daugther's allergens, but they seem like good places to start.

I've also called Maynards (maker of Swedish Berries, Sour Patch Kids, Fuzzy Peach, etc.). They've told me by e-mail, and over the phone (yes, I double-checked my own reply ), that all major allergens and sources of gluten are specifically listed on the label if they are in the product OR if there is a chance of cross-contamination ("may contain"). I was very satisfied both time by their reply, and I will keep those candies in mind as a safe treat for my daughter...

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Me - Kim - No allergies
DH Ben - 31 - Allergic to nuts and peanuts, lots of environmental allergies.
DD Anne - 4 - Asthma. Allergic to dairy, eggs, mustard, kiwi, peanuts, wheat and barley... for now...
DS Francois - 1 - No allergies so far...

Maynards is made by Cadbury. I trust Cadbury labelling -- and they are one of the first companies I did trust. Both Cadbury Canada and Cadbury UK label well, imo.

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

Interesting AnnaMarie, I've seen those "candy tree" suckers on the checkout counter at Canadian Tire. I've wondered about their "peanut free" symbol and wanted to look into it further... I've sent off an email inquiring about tree nuts. Thanks for the link.

Received a response:

DS has been eating the Maynards candies without any trouble. On the safety side of things, just watch that when you do give them to your daughter, she eats one at a time. DS was a little excited about his Berries one time, and shoved a few in his mouth at once... nothing terrible happened, but we had to retrieve a "gob" of them from his mouth so he didn't choke.

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*Son, 5 years old: Asperger's, allergic to eggs, peanuts, and mustard seed (outgrew dairy and soy)
*Son, 23 months old
*Hubby: allergic to cats and trees (non-specified types)
*Self: allergic to penicillin

I bought these at Halloween last year, and my dd loves them. The only issue I had was this: It says on the back in bold print: no gluten, no nuts, no dairy ingredients, no soy, no eggs. Then it lists the ingredients, which all sound good. Then by chance, I the package to see the side (which is folded n half to close the top of the bag) and it says 'Produced in a facility that uses dairy products'.

I was quite surprised that they would boldly label as 'no dairy' and then put a 'may contain dairy' statement, and the statement was on a totally different part of the packaging. I'll bet 90% of the people wouldn't even see that. Here's my email to the company, and their response, which I was not satisfied with, and thought their last comment was even a bit snarky, but decided not to get worked up over. At the end of the day, I'll still buy their product because it's organic and allergy friendly, and there aren't a lot of other options out there:


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Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 5:53 PM
To: Libby S. Moyer
Subject: Ingredient list and may contain warning

Hi there,

I recently bought some of your organic lollipops for my 3 yr old daughter who is allergic to peanut, dairy and egg. I was really happy to find a product that she loves, and is relatively healthy.


While she is not severely allergic to dairy and can tolerate small amounts, I was disappointed to see your warning 'Produced in a facility that uses dairy products' on the side of the packaging, with the print almost hidden in a picture of a house, instead of boldly labelled near the ingredients list. While I really like your product and will continue to purchase it, if this had been a peanut warning, I would be horrified. I'm sure other parents with severely dairy-allergic children have missed the warning label, and I would suggest that you make it more visible in bold letters immediately after the ingredient list.



Thank you,

---------------------------------------------------------------------Thank you for your comments. We actually put much more ingredient information on our packaging than is required by law, for the convenience of our customers. Because of the number of allergy inquiries we receive, we have added additional information with each package update to help customers determine if the product fits their needs.



Flavors with dairy are run at the end of the production day, to prevent cross-contamination. We do not use any nut products. We find that parents of severely allergic children are very ingredient-wary and do not hesitate to contact us in advance if they have any questions.



Libby Moyer

Marketing & Sales Manager

Quigley Manufacturing Inc.

College Farm Organic Simon Candy Co.

31 N Spruce St.

Elizabethtown, PA 17022

800-367-2441 x 112

www.collegefarmorganic.com

libbym@qmi.quigleyco.com

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

Related, we've posted a new Halloween poll on the site.

It's here, if anyone wants to vote on their favourite Hallowen practice.
I'm interested to see where it ends up: http://allergicliving.com/quickpoll/

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Re Nestle mini chocolate bars. . .

I know the peanut-free symbol is all over the boxes of these Halloween chocolates, but as of last year, the individual packages were not labelled as such. So, while we know that the ones we get trick or treating are probably the ones from the peanut-free box, we didn't know for certain.

Does anyone know if the individual piece of candy now also carries the peanut-free label? Thanks.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema