My wife recently ate a whole large bag of PapaJack Sweet and Salty Popcorn and decided, with a prickly popcorn-filled tummy, to email the Ottawa-based company about their nut/peanut policies.

We were happy with their reply:

Hi B*,
I am happy to hear that you enjoyed our popcorn.
All of our PapaJack products are 100% peanut and nut free.
We do not allow any nut products into our facility, not even for the employees lunches.

Thanks,
C*

YAY!

Deans Sweets offers elegant, extraordinary, hand-dipped truffles created from the finest imported dark chocolate. Luscious flavors include brandy, rum Myers Dark, scotch single malt, orange, raspberry, coffee, peppermint, ginger, plain, and cayenne!. All with a rich dark chocolate coating. Please see the Orders page for a complete list of our many chocolate choices.

For the chocolate connoisseur, what makes these truffles so unusually fine are their uncommonly good ingredients – centers are made with a delectable 56% cocoa content excepting of course the white chocolate and the coating is a rich 70%.

Please make special note that we use no nuts or nut products when creating these truffles. Anyone with allergies to nuts of any sort can rest assured that there are no tree or ground nuts in products from Deans Sweets. Also of special note: Our chocolate stout truffles are dairy-free. Delectable and yummy, this also makes them vegan. Most of our truffles are also gluten-free. Email us if you have dietary needs or questions.

Truffles are available all year, though in the peak of the summer months, delivery times and costs may be affected by warm weather.

For special events and corporate gifts, delivery times will depend on the size of the order. Please email us with your wishes and we will work to meet your deadlines. Special orders are gladly accepted and every effort is made to supply you with your ideal flavor choices.

via Deans Sweets | Elegant Chocolate Truffles.

SunButter® Sunflower Seed Butter Receives National Taste Test Award at IFT ’11

Offers Innovative and Flavorful Ingredient Option for Peanut-Free Products

Fargo, ND (August, 2011) – SunButter® received third place in Mintel’s IFT 2011 taste test under the flavor and ingredient predictions for 2011 category. Mintel announced the winners of their IFT 2011 taste test, naming SunButter sunflower seed spread an example of the seed ingredient trend.

via SunButter® Sunflower Seed Butter Receives National Taste Test Award at IFT ’11 | Cision Wire.

Our family has enjoyed a few of their products and appreciate the work they do to provide tasty allergic aware foods (can a food be aware?).

Enjoy Life Shows Support For Food Allergy Community By Becoming Gold Level Sponsor Of The Kids With Food Allergies FoundationAugust 11, 2011 | Author: EnjoyLifeFoods | Posted in Food & Drink0inShareAugust 10, 2011 Chicago – Enjoy Life Foods, the leading allergen-friendly brand in the Supermarket and Natural Foods stores, has broadened its partnership with the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation, a leading resource site and organization for families who struggle with the everyday challenges of food allergies. By elevating itself to a Gold Level Sponsor, Enjoy Life will support a variety of KFA’s initiatives, as well as provide an opportunity for new KFA members to receive valuable coupons for Enjoy Life’s products, all of which are free of the 8 common allergens.

via Enjoy Life Shows Support For Food Allergy Community By Becoming Gold Level Sponsor Of The Kids With Food Allergies Foundation | Press Releases @ Your-Story.org.

We’re happy for the good news about the boy and hope that Quaker gets to the bottom of this soon!

Read the article here…

From the Quaker website

IMPORTANT PRODUCT NOTICE

The health and safety of our consumers is our highest priority. Accordingly, Quaker Canada has initiated a voluntary recall of our 14 count Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Value Pack cartons that may have been mis-labeled. No other packages of Quaker bars or Quaker products are affected.

Quaker Canada is taking this action out of an abundance of caution because the outside packaging erroneously states that the boxes should contain Chewy Chocolate Chip and Chewy S’mores bars, both of which are made in a peanut-free facility. The individually-wrapped bars are clearly and accurately labeled.

Consumers who have purchased a 14 count Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Value Pack carton with a UPC Bar Code ending in 10742 should inspect the contents of the carton to ensure it contains the correct product (Chewy Chocolate Chip and Chewy S’mores bars). If the carton contains Dipps Chocolate Chip and Dipps Caramel Nut bars and a consumer has a peanut or tree nut allergy, they should return it to the retailer where it was purchased for a refund.

No other packages of Quaker bars or Quaker products are affected.

There is NO health risk associated with handling the mis-labeled product for disposal, however this product should not be consumed by those in a peanut or tree nut-allergic household. The company is working closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Anaphylaxis Canada to notify the public.

Consumers with questions may contact us by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-267-6287.

Here are some details. The rest can be found on their Facebook page.

DELICARDO Foodcards, a very helpful little card that contains your dietary dos and don’ts, is having a scavenger hunt.

To go into the draw to win a pack of 50 DELICARDO Foodcards of your choosing (go tohttp://www.delicardo.com to see the range of cards available) answer the questions below:

1. What rating did Rosanne give “The Bell Jar” café at http://www.glutensavvy.com?

2. What is the secret word in the magnifying glass on the “Disney with Food Allergies” travel page at http://www.avoidingmilkprotein.com? (Tip: You can find the pages here http://www.avoidingmilkprotein.com/travel.htm)

3. Who is the founder of www.mallergies.com and what is your favourite post there? (Tip: You can choose any post found at the website)

4. What is the name of the trail mix recently reviewed athttp://www.foodallergyqueen.com?

5. Which allergies and intolerances are mentioned in the founding story of DELICARDO? (Tip: Check the story page at http://www.delicardo.com)

Send your answers and your choice of cards to Delicardo Foodie via facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000358462929) or email bosson@enomis.dewith the subject line “facebook competition”.

Competition ends 24 August 2010.

For more details go to the “Eating Out: Allergies and Diets” facebook group pagehttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=340959892390. Remember all entries must be sent to Delicardo.

Have fun!

http://bit.ly/videodetails will take you to their Facebook page.

Sadly it does not seem to be open to Canadians.

So are you going to enter?

Here’s a lowdown on what they want and what you get:

Thanks for playing!

Exciting! Together with Delicardo we are proud to annmounce that we will be giving away a package of 10 Delicardo food cards!

The contest is simple.

Leave us a comment stating what type of Foodcard would work best for you and  and at the end of the give-away we’ll pick a random guest to receive a card set!

The contest will run until May 15th (1 month from today!) so to give everyone a good chance to enter and get their comments in.

I may have to massage the rules a bit so these are not set in stone.

Also only one entry per person!

Good luck!

We were recently very pleased that Kraft Foods gave us the opportunity to try their new Mr. Christie Snak Paks Soft Baked Cookies. They come in three flavours — Oatmeal Cinnamon, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and Double Chocolate – and are conveniently packaged in 30 gram snack-sized pouches, six per box. All three varieties are made in a peanut-free facility and so are perfect for school lunchboxes. Our son was so happy to try the new cookies, he didn’t waste any time getting to work.

Not being as fond of chocolate as most children, our son decided that the Oatmeal Cinnamon flavour would likely be his favourite (and they were), so he started with them. He took his “job” quite seriously at first, studying the first cookie and calmly stating, “I like the colour” (incidentally, there are no artificial colours or artificial flavours in the cookies). Then, taking small nibbles, he continued, “I like that they’re soft and chewy. I really like the taste of it.” But soon he was excitedly exclaiming, “They’re YUMMY! I love them! I want another bag!” (By the way, the soft texture is due to added vegetable purée [zucchini, pumpkin, or carrot, depending on the flavour]).

He’d eagerly polished off two packages before we introduced him to the next flavour, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. By then, he was munching away happily, mumbling out a ”They’re nummy” between chews. Then, trying the Double Chocolate variety, he commented that they are “a lot chocolatey.”

Soon, there were wrappers all over the place, and our satisfied boy said, ”They should be in the stores so we can buy them. My friends would love them!” I’m certain that they will.

These cookies did not last more that a few days in our house, and my husband and I only got a couple of small tastes.

As for all those wrappers, Kraft Canada has a partnership with a company called TerraCycle, which allows the cookie wrappers to be collected and reycled. Through TerraCycle’s partnership with Kraft Canada,  groups such as schools and charites can earn money by collecting the used cookie packages, which TerraCycle then recycles, or “upcycles,” into items such as backpacks, pencil cases, and yoga totes.  That’s cool stuff!

Mr. Christie Snak Paks Soft Baked Cookies will be available in Canadian stores starting in April. Parents and teachers are often asking me for ideas for peanut-free snacks, and I’m looking forward to suggesting these treats to them. They’re sure to be a pantry staple at our house and many others.