When I’m at the grocery store I’ll pick up many different products for a variety of different reasons.

As the grocery shopper for a family with 6 different food allergies, I’m always reading the labels on products that I want to buy.  I check out new products to see if they’re suitable and I review old favorites to be sure that nothing has changed since the last time I purchased them.

But as the owner of a food company, I’m also perusing the food aisles for a whole different set of reasons.  I notice packages that I love the coloring or the artwork, perhaps the size or convenience of something makes me stop to take note or maybe a competitor has changed how they’re packaging their product.

Imagine my surprise when I picked up a new product at the grocery store last week simply because I liked its packaging and got quite a shock when I read the allergen information.  Right off the bat, I’ll tell you it was a natural snack with nuts in it which I already knew was off limits for my family but I read the allergen information anyway and that’s when I saw it:  “Contains nuts.  May contain other allergens not listed.“  Huh? Read more »

Do you ever wonder why you never see the words allergy free on our products or website?

I began using the term allergy friendly about 6 years ago and ever since then have been correcting those who refer to Nonuttin’ products as allergy free.  While I can understand that like “gluten free”, it’s a quick and easy way to refer to products that are designed for those with food allergies, it doesn’t communicate the true reality of food allergies. Read more »

I’m here to tell you a secret;  traveling is not all glamor.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?

I remember when my kids were little and my husband had to travel for work conferences.  I’d be exhausted when he came home and he had the nerve to be exhausted too!  How could that be when he’d had a hotel to go to sleep in, meals provided, banquets to attend, no children to wake him up in the middle of the night, no carting the kids back and forth between childcare plus work?  Now, I’ve discovered why as the shoe is on the other foot.

Because it is my company that I travel for, no one is planning my dinners for me at lovely restaurants when I’m away.   And, like many of you with food allergies and intolerances, I cart my own food with me so that I can eat safely and healthfully and try to book hotels with a microwave and fridge wherever I can.  I’ve been traveling so much in the last 3 months that I haven’t spent more than 10 days at home at a time.  At one point, I looked out of my plane at the city beyond and forgot where I was (Vancouver)!

So you might ask, why do I do it?   Here are the things that keep me going:

The eleven year old boy at the Canadian Celiac Association’s National Conference in Winnipeg who mowed through all of our samples once his mom had determined all of our products were safe for his Celiac disease, peanut allergies, egg allergies and dairy allergies.  What a smile on his face and his mom’s too!

The lady at Choices gluten free fair in White Rock who found out we’re free of sulfites and dairy.  She told me that she was in love with our company. 

The store owner who came up to our booth at the Canadian Health Food Association’s Expo West who said she can’t keep our Energy Explosion trail mix on the shelf, people love it so much.

The lady who’s been a customer for years who introduced herself at the Celiac Disease Foundation’s Annual Conference in Los Angeles in May.  It felt like I was meeting an old friend.

But it’s the same in all that we do isn’t it?  We handle all of the education and anxiety necessary to deal with our family’s food allergies and at times it can be really overwhelming.  We plough on, sometimes just putting our heads down and marching ahead because it’s really all we can do.  But then we get those moments of bright light; that small thing that may not mean much to someone not in our shoes but can mean the world to us.  A new safe product, a medical situation handled well, excitement over finding someone else who really “gets it”.

Small things – they’re really what makes the world go round.

It’s bad enough that we need to convince people in our lives that food allergies besides peanut can create life threatening reactions too.  But what happens when even allergy researchers believe that certain food allergies are not as serious? Read more »

Health Canada has said since 2007 that pure oats (no wheat, barley or rye contamination) are not only suitable for gluten free diets but recommended due to the B vitamins, fiber and iron they add to a gluten free diet.  Yet at the same time, Canadian labeling laws, last updated in the 1990’s don’t allow oats to be labeled or advertised as gluten free.  This is why you only see “gluten free” on our US site even though it’s the same product as Canada.

As part of the upcoming allergen labeling law changes, Health Canada has recognized that their recommendations and the labeling laws don’t match.  Two weeks ago they published a 20 page document about their intent to change the law regarding oats and are asking for feedback from Canadian consumers and the food industry.  For more information, check out the link at:  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2010/2010_75-eng.php

Shows like The Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim last month can be a little overwhelming.  Open only to those in the natural products industry (stores, distributors, manufacturers, media, etc.), not the general public, it’s hard to share with you the vast size and amazing diversity of items available at these shows.  There is everything from allergy friendly foods to organic skin care to vitamins and pet food.

But while there were some wonderful new products to discover, I found an underlying bandwagon at the show:  gluten free.  New market research shows that 1 out of every 10 new products introduced this year will have a gluten free claim.  Some of this is good, some not so.  Read more »

As indicated in an earlier post on our change to take sesame off of our labels, I had indicated that there would be other small changes to the ingredients as well.  These are the changes that you need to be aware of although they will not change any of the top food allergen declarations:

Sugar:   Currently we use a soft brown sugar that is made of cane juice but is refined.  In the new ingredient formulas, this ingredient will be changed to evaporated cane juice which is unrefined.

Chocolate Chips:  Although we are still finalizing this change, if all goes as expected, the new chocolate chips will have the anhydrous dextrose (corn based) removed and an additional ingredient, salt, will be added.  The 70% dark chocolate chunks will remain the same.

Crisp rice:  Not only will the sesame warning be removed due to the new crisp rice, the addition of honey as an ingredient (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt), will mean that Nonuttin granola bars and granolas will now no longer be considered vegan as honey is considered an animal by-product. 

As indicated in the Say Goodbye to Sesame post, here are the details about which labels are changing with expected dates:

We will be moving to the new labels for the USA only at first.  This should take place within the next 8-10 weeks and will occur with all of the granola bars and clusters at the same time.

Canadian labels are expected to be changed within the next 4-6 months.  Why?  Health Canada has been promising changes to the allergen and gluten labeling for some time but most recently they have indicated that the new regulations will be posted in Spring 2010 which could be all the way until June.  So that we can make sure that we meet all new regulations, we will be waiting on Canadian packaging changes until those announcements take place.

In the meantime, be sure to read your Nonuttin labels.  If it still has the sesame warning on it, the formula is still containing the current crisp rice, NOT the new.  All new labels will only say:  Contains: soy (chocolate varieties) or May Contain:  soy (fruit varieties).

While we’re saying goodbye to sesame, we’re saying “hello” to Martha.  Martha who?  Why, Martha Stewart, of course! Read more »

One of the things I struggle with as both the mother of a food allergic child and as a manufacturer is changing ingredients in our products.  This could be removing products, bringing in new ingredients or changing a recipe.  Believe me, every choice is carefully reviewed, often put out to our customers for feedback and truly agonized over.  I walk in your shoes and know exactly how our family feels when a favorite gets put onto the unsafe list.

In April 2007 when we moved to pure oats so that we could respond to customer requests for a gluten free product, it was a Catch 22.  Moving to gluten free would allow so many more people to enjoy Nonuttin products.  Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to move to a gluten free crisp rice from a new supplier, just as that supplier decided to put sesame on the same line. 

Although we’ve always had the crisp rice tested by a lab for sesame before coming to the Nonuttin’ facility and the testing has always been negative, I felt that a sesame warning must still go on our granola labels (bars and clusters).  So we labelled and carefully outlined why we were doing so on our website.  All the while, I’ve been looking for a crisp rice that could meet all of our allergen requirements and remove the sesame without requiring a 10 000 lb custom order.

I’m happy to say that we’ve finally done it.  No more sesame warning!  Read more »

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post and there’s been a good reason; I’ve been locked in my closet with SunCups.  Not really, of course, but not too far off the truth. Read more »