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.

Most of you know that ordering in pizza with a nut/peanut allergic person in the house is usually taboo. What made us think of the possibility was a recent trip to New Jersey where we found out, through the Dominos.com site (US company), that they were nut free (http://www.dominos.com/home/menu/allergen_info.jsp).

I picked up the phone and called the local establishment.  In a rushed voice the gentleman on the phone stated that it was Domino’s and what I would like for my order. I informed him that I have someone with food allergies and that I would like to speak to someone with some knowledge of this with respect to their food preparation. He then asked what the allergen was. I told him peanuts and tree nuts to which he replied that there was nobody there to help me.

I bid him good day and hung up.

I was not very convinced, nor was I very happy at how that transpired. I picked up my quill and parchment to draft a letter to Dominos Canada. OK, I emailed them.

The gist of the email was asking what their policy was, if they were nut/peanut free, and if their employees were educated of the process if there was one.

I received an email this morning stating that they were in fact nut and peanut free and that their website was going through the process of adding this information. To get more information I picked up the phone and called the author of the email. She informed me that the employees are supposed to be educated and trained how to handle these allergens and to ensure the public, when told of the allergy, that all precautionary procedures will be followed. It is up to US to make sure they know of our allergies. This will prompt the kitchen to take extra care.

This information came to me from the Executive Assistant of the President of Dominos Canada. I think I trust her.  So we can add one more pizza place to the list!

That makes 2 so far.

Boston Pizza

Domino’s

If you know of more please let us know!

Allergic reactions can develop at any age, any time

While the number of children with allergies increased over the past few decades, adults awareness of their own sensitivities is growing

Adults are discovering in ever greater numbers that they have serious food allergies, possibly due to exposure to new foods and an increased awareness of food allergy symptoms.

So says Dr. Vincent Oswunda, an Edmonton allergist and immunologist, who adds although most people develop allergies in childhood, adults can still develop an allergy and suffer as much as any child.

“You can start having allergic reactions at any age and at any time,”Oswunda says.

An allergy to sulphites — the chemical additives used to stop food from browning or spoiling — is most often diagnosed in adults, especially in those who already have asthma. Sulphites were recently added to Health Canadas list of the most common food allergens, along with more familiar foods like peanuts and dairy.

via Allergic reactions can develop at any age, any time.

We’ve Finally Gotten Rid Of All The Nuts!

For a while our staff was quite worried when we said all the nuts would have to go…

We are pleased to announce that as of June 15, 2009, we are going entirely nut free in both of our facilities. This is one of the biggest product policy changes since we made most of our products dairy free. We’ve been peanut free for several years now but this move will eliminate all tree nuts from our product line as well. On the down side, this will force the discontinuation of our lemon cranberry almond and double chocolate almond cookies but will open up our complete product line to thousands (millions?) of people with nut allergies. We will also be announcing a couple of new cookie varieties to replace the 2 we are discontinuing. More on that in a future post.

For those of you with severe nut allergies please keep in mind that there will still be products in the market that were produced prior to us going nut free. Look for products with the following Best Before dates or later:

* Soft Baked Goods (breads, buns, bagels, donuts, etc) – 12/15/2009

* Cookies, Mixes and Ingredients – 06/15/2010

via The Gluten Free Insider: We’ve Finally Gotten Rid Of All The Nuts!.

I get a lot of questions about the safety of various candies so I thought I would share this updated Hershey candy info with you. One of the members from my local food allergy support group spent a long time on the phone with a Hersheys rep and e-mailed everyone a list of safe candies.

via The Nut-Free Mom Blog: The Nut-Free Lowdown on Hersheys Chocolates.

An idea that started as a class project between two friends is big business in the booming food allergy and intolerance market that one research firm estimates will reach $3.9 billion this year.

Scott Mandell and Bert Cohen, classmates at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2000, founded their allergen-free food company, Enjoy Life Natural Brands LLC, in 2001. The pair drafted their initial business plan for a school assignment in their last class before graduation. Their idea for an allergen-free food company was inspired by Cohen’s mother, who had multiple sclerosis and serious dietary restrictions.

“Quite frankly, we didn’t have a better idea at the time,” President and Chief Executive Officer Mandell admitted. “Once we got into it and got behind the numbers, we saw an amazing opportunity.” 

Mandell and Cohen continued working on a business plan after the class ended in the spring of 2000. About six months later, Mandell quit his job as a commercial lender to focus entirely on Enjoy Life. Within 21 months of Mandell quitting his job, Enjoy Life products were on shelves for sale. 

The pair hit upon a growing industry. The market for allergen-free foods nearly doubled between 1999 and 2003, growing to $1.8 billion from $947 million in retail sales in the U.S., according to New York research firm Packaged Facts, a division of Market Research Group LLC. Nearly 12 million Americans have food allergies, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. 

Food allergies and people’s awareness of them are also on the rise. The number of children diagnosed with the peanut allergy has doubled in the past decade, and the prevalence of food allergies in children under the age of 18 has increased by 18 percent between 1997 and 2007, according to the academy. 

Enjoy Life started in a 6,000-square-foot “shoebox” on Chicago’s West side with help from friends and family who Mandell dubbed “angel investors.” In the beginning the company’s main distributor was Mandell, who would load products into the back of his car and sell them to natural foods stores throughout the Midwest. 

These days Enjoy Life products are carried in more than 50 grocery and natural food stores such as Whole Foods Market Inc., SUPERVALU Inc.’s Jewel-Osco, and Publix Super Markets Inc. Enjoy Life has gone from selling its products only in the Midwest to 85 percent of its sales coming from the U.S. and 15 percent from Canada. 

The company recorded $10 million in sales in 2008 and $8 million in 2007. Mandell declined to estimate what the company’s sales might be this year. “This year I’m expecting the worst and hoping for the best,” he said. 

Enjoy Life started to feel the effects of the economy in the fourth quarter, but Mandell said sales have picked up “substantially during the last six weeks,” something he attributed in part to slightly improving consumer confidence. Mandell attributed some of the sales softness in the fourth quarter to distributors taking their inventory levels down to three weeks from eight to 12 weeks. “Now I’m feeling it go back the other way,” he said. “I think they cut too deep.” 

Mandell attributes research done by the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center and Children’s Memorial Hospital in helping raise awareness about the increase in food allergies. 

“Is there something different in our genetic make-up? Is there something different in the environment? Yes,” said Christine Szychlinski, manager of the Bunning Food Allergy Program at Children’s Memorial Hospital. 

Researchers at Children’s Memorial are in the midst of a two-year study on 500 Chicago families to learn more about potential reasons for the increase in childhood food allergies. “We know from the children we are seeing here at our clinic that food allergy is on the rise, definitely,” Szychlinski said. 

As the number of people diagnosed with food allergies continues to rise, grocery stores have seen a growing customer base for allergen-free products. Whole Foods is one of the national retailers that has Enjoy Life products. The demand for allergen-free products has “definitely been a growing trend in the last decade,” said spokeswoman Kristen Kaza. 

Enjoy Life is one of the few companies producing food free of the eight most common allergens. Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, soy and wheat cause 90 percent of allergic reactions, according to the nonprofit organization Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Most of Enjoy Life’s competitors’ products are just gluten-free, meaning no wheat, rye or barley, Mandell said. “We have taken that big additional step in being free of all common allergens so that makes us very unique,” he said. 

The allergen-free movement started to take off in the past two years when then Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. introduced a gluten-free beer in 2006 and General Mills Cereals LLC converted its half-century old Rice Chex brand into a gluten-free product in 2008, said Tatjana Meerman, publisher at Packaged Facts. “Heavy hitters have jumped into the market and that has spurred a lot of awareness and marketing activities,” Meerman said. 

Greg and Jenifer Herskowitz own The Allergy-Free Shop in Miami and carry more than 250 brands that offer an array of gluten-free, dairy-free or peanut-free products. Enjoy Life is the only brand they carry that is entirely free of all eight common allergens. During the last three years the selection of allergen-free foods “has grown exponentially,” said Jenifer Herskowitz. 

Denise Bunning of Lake Forest knows how limited the selection of allergen-free foods can be. Her sons Bryan, 15, and Daniel, 12, have allergic reactions to milk, eggs, tree nuts, shell fish, and beef. Bunning and her husband discovered that Daniel was allergic to milk the first time he took a sip of it. 

“He couldn’t breathe and his little face started turning purple. He literally almost died,” said Bunning, who co-founded the Bunning Food Allergy Project with her husband. 

The current economic climate has made Mandell rethink some aspects of Enjoy Life’s operations. The company had planned to introduce a line of crackers to come this spring, but Mandell decided to push back the launch until later in the year. 

Keeping inventory levels low at the warehouse, adjusting the quantities of supplies, and using social marketing platforms like Facebook and Twitter are all tactics Mandell has implemented in recent months. “With the economy the way it is, cash flow is always a more important consideration so we want to make sure we are managing our cash properly,” he said. 

Denise Bunning can’t afford to stop buying allergen-free products. She is still an Enjoy Life customer and said her son Bryan was a big fan of the company’s granola bar line for awhile. “It’s getting easier because companies are finally realizing that food allergies are unfortunately here to stay,” she said.  

via Parents offered new choices in allergen-free food .

Mr Christie's Snak Paks

Kraft Foods has just introduced a selection of single-portion packs of mini cookies called Mr. Christie’s Snak Paks, and today our five-year-old son and I had the pleasure of trying out the four types that carry a “Peanut-Free” symbol.* Our son is allergic to tree nuts as well, and we were assured by a public relations executive representing Kraft, that these four products were completely peanut-free: Barnum’s Animal Crackers, Teddy Grahams, Mini Chips Ahoy!, and Barnum’s ABC’s Cocoa cookies. They come in brightly coloured, whimsical, 30 g packages — a good treat size.

Although our son said that all of the varieties were “Yum,” his clear favourite was the Animal Crackers. They have a lovely light texture (compared with the more typically dense texture of animal crackers), a softly sweet taste, and delightful animal shapes that had terrific appeal for our son. His second favorite was the “cute” Teddy Grahams, which have a surprisingly rich flavour that reminded me of shortbread cookies (but, thankfully, without all the fat). His third favourite was the Chips Ahoy variety, which might rank #1 with most kids, as most kids love chocolate, and these little cookies are full of big chocolate flavour (our son typically prefers vanilla over chocolate). The ABC’s Cocoa cookies were his least favourite, but would be perfect for kids (or adults) who prefer a less sweet snack. They have a darker chocolate taste and a very pleasant crunch.

Thank you, Kraft Foods, for bringing us these new school-safe options for our kids. With these four distinctly different snack-sized cookies, there’s a flavour for everyone and enough variety to keep lunchboxes from getting boring.

*There is a fifth variety called Mini Oreo that is not made in a nut-free facility.

*Note that these products are peanut-free and are produced in a facility that does not process nuts. Please check packaging whenever purhcasing any food products to ensure of no changes in the processing.