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 »

Just in time for Easter, we’ve brought in Divvies 4 oz solid chocolate bunnies to bring some joy to your household. Since they’re made in a gluten free, egg free, dairy free, peanut free and nut free environment, you don’t have to worry about anything except whether to nibble on the ears or the feet first.

Divvies products are at Nonuttin’ for a limited time and in limited amounts so don’t miss out. You can also get jelly beans, gummy stars and Benjamint chocolate bars and plain Bingo chocolate bars to make a delicious Easter basket that’s safe for your family.

Allergen Information:
Divvies does make cookies that include wheat and gluten but they are made and packaged in a completely separate building from the candy that we are offering. The only allergen declaration for all of these items is for soy and all ingredients are posted for each Divvies item that we offer.

Some Divvies jelly beans and gummy stars are fruit flavored (natural and/or artificial flavors) so if you have any fruit allergies, please contact us so we can inform you what flavors are in these products.

If you have any further questions, we’d be happy to answer them at mailto:info@nonuttin.com  or toll free at 1-866-714-5411.

Shipping Times – Canada
Order at the latest by 10 am March 24 to ensure the treats arrive before the Easter bunny does using ground shipping. For information about ground and express shipping times, please see our Canadian Shipping Policies at: http://www.nonuttin.ca/help.php?section=shipping#canada

Go Shopping in the Canadian Store Now: www.nonuttin.ca

Shipping Times – United States
Order at the latest by 10 am on March 18 using ground shipping to make sure there are no disappointed facese. Please see our US Shipping Policies for information about US Customs and Express Shipping at: http://www.nonuttin.ca/help.php?section=shipping#usa

Go Shopping in the American Store Now: http://www.nonuttin.com/shop/

Oh boy, you’d think that being deprived of peanuts and nuts for approximately 1-14 hours was akin to snatching a bottle out of a baby’s hands.  Add in food allergies being referred to as a disability and you’ve got people frothing at the mouth. Read more »

Time today for a little rant.  What’s new?  The topic is demos.  You know, where ladies stand behind a table in your grocer’s aisle, complete with a hair net and gloves.  They offer little samples of various food products, coupons and more.  Many people love food demos and even go to Costco every Saturday to “lunch” on the samples.  Companies do food demos because if consumers try the product we may like it or simply feel guilty and agree to buy an item from that kindly lady behind the table.

99% of the time I avoid food demos, whether or not my allergic child is with me.  In fact, I really try not to make eye contact and have been known to avoid aisles completely if it means I can bypass a demo.  When I have stopped, I’m inevitably disappointed, if not downright ticked off.  Sometimes I can see right away that there are food allergens that we need to avoid in the product but other times I have heard allergen information from the presenter that’s not even close to the mark.  As an example, several years ago Nestle came out with a new Real Dairy product line of ice cream.  Of course, we Canadians know that Nestle has several peanut free chocolate bars on the market here so hope surged within me that I just might be able to get a delicious new ice cream that was safe for our whole family.   Read more »

I spoke to the  producer of a national talk show last week and part of that discussion was telling her all of the major national brands in Canada that have begun producing and labeling items as Peanut Free.  She asked me to send her a couple of those products along with Nonuttin’ samples so that she could see what kind of selection is available to Canadians but not to Americans.  So off to the grocery store I went.

Many items such as candies and chocolate bars were really easy with Halloween coming soon.  The store had huge displays of all of the peanut free items currently being offered and I had no problem finding all sorts of goodies.  I then headed to the cracker and cookie and fruit snacks aisles where I added several Dare products to my cache.

Along the way, I decided to try and get at least a few items that were both peanut free and dairy free because the producer’s child suffers from both of those allergies and I hoped to send a pleasant surprise their way.  That’s when the going really got tough.  I haven’t had to shop dairy free for several years since both of my girls outgrew their dairy allergies.  I discovered that it hasn’t gotten any easier and with all of the peanut free items that I could find I was only able to get 1 item that didn’t have dairy or traces of dairy in it.

While I’m thankful that my own children’s allergies no longer include dairy, it seems to me that the manufacturing world’s focus on peanut free has really given dairy the short shrift.  And it has somehow communicated to the world at large that only peanut allergies are life threatening and need monitoring.  For those of you with dairy allergies, I know I’m preaching to the choir but this grocery trip really opened my eyes up anew.

I’ve said for years that I believe the most difficult allergens to avoid are dairy, wheat and soy.  I find this holds true in my search for ingredients for Nonuttin’ products too.  And despite my desire to have Nonuttin’ products soy free as well, I have discovered that even if we were to remove soy from our own facility, so many of the ingredients we source have soy cross contamination issues that I wouldn’t be comfortable labeling our products as soy free.

I’m not sure what it will take to have other major allergens come to the forefront like peanut has but I think we’ve got a long way to go.