Farmer Jack's Finds

Farmer Jack's Market Hosted an event allowing people to meet the vendors of some of the products they sell

Cathy's Kombucha is fermented tea drink, that contains probiotics and is gluten and soy free. I talked to their representative, she said the factory is also nut and dairy free. At one point they produced a product that contains sulphites, but they no longer handle sulphites. Finding a dairy free probiotic that tastes like a treat was a wonder, we sampled a few drinks, and my whole family agreed we enjoyed them all.

Farmer Jack's also gave out samples of Bay Meats gluten free beef jerky. I have bought them in the past, at Farmer Jack's.

Eudora Foods was also at Farmer Jack's, last time I spoke to them they did not have any kind of precautionary statement on their products or website. I was pleased that the product now has "may contains statement" on their products. Eudora Foods now has this statement on their web site "All products are made in a shared kitchen that also produces products with gluten, wheat, dairy, nuts, mustard seed, egg and fish". I was glad to see this improvement.

No'oats Paleo Cereal was also at Jack's it is a granola cereal that is on it's way to earning gluten free certification! and is dairy free and follows the paleo diet.

Farmer Jack's Market is a small grocer, with a selection of fruit and vegetables, and other grocery items, they focus on healthy local foods like heirloom vegetables. Their foods are usually local, and sometimes organic. At the back of the store they sell vegan soups and smoothies, customers can also order veggie trays. Jack's Market is located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, it is on the corner of Appleby and Fairview in a small plaza.

Full Disclosure: I was given samples, however I bought my own bottle of Cathy's Kombucha at Farmer Jack's. I am also a frequent customer of Farmer Jack's.

Mad Alex Products

I was recently contacted by an allergy-free and gluten-free foods website, MadAlexProducts.com

Here is a little about them:

"We started Mad Alex Products because we wanted life to be a little easier for our family and others like ours. Many of our team have food allergies and intolerances themselves and/or children with food allergies so we truly understand the difficulties involved in finding the things that families with food allergies need."

They are offering a Grand Opening coupon. To receive 20% off any order from now through October 8, enter the following in the Promo Code field: GOODNEWS

Whole Foods comes to Mississauga

From Whole Foods
The Wait is Over.

Join us in celebrating the GRAND OPENING of our new
WHOLE FOODS MARKET SQUARE ONE in MISSISSAUGA.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m.

Whole Foods Market Square One
155 Square One Drive
(corner of Rathburn Road and Square One Drive)


The first 200 customers will receive a FREE Whole Foods Market tote bag!
Live entertainment and light refreshments will be available.

Happy Baby

News from Happy Baby

Happy Baby online store now open for business

Free shipping on orders over $50 or more.
Free shipping on 6 or more items.

Allergy Chart

Price of Free From Food

Today's guest post is from Jamie Stern from Allergies and Me

Why are Gluten Free and Allergy Free foods more expensive? Products made without Gluten, Wheat, Eggs, Dairy, Soy, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Yeast, Casein, Corn and many other allergens or ingredients causing digestive issues are costly to not only produce, but to manufacture, package, warehouse, market and promote.

Today, we tackle the product production and ingredient sourcing itself….

In order to prevent possible cross contamination, these manufacturers use dedicated, single source ingredient suppliers who do all parts of production – from growing, to harvesting, milling and packaging. This provides the least possible risk of contamination of allergens. Most manufacturers require each ingredient supplier to provide written documentation on product specification and analysis, processing conditions, certifications for Kosher, Organic and Vegan…and on top of that, written certification from a 3rd party that all the ingredients have been tested by an independent lab to confirm they are Allergy free and Gluten free. These tests are not cheap and must be done regularly. Additionally, these suppliers must clean and test for gluten and allergens after every batch produced. Many manufacturers will also test all the ingredients before they enter their dedicated facilities as well.

The manufacturers are tasked with not only sourcing safe ingredients from specialized suppliers, they must also keep their own gluten free and allergy free facilities up to these standards as well. They must maintain a dedicated plant with no gluten, plus none of the top 8 allergens – in addition to others if they are excluded from their finished products.

These manufacturers will purchase new equipment for their facilities to avoid potential cross contamination. There is a lot of research that goes into these purchases. The equipment must be able to blend and seal. Also, the surfaces should have no crevices or spots that make it difficult to clean for the smallest of particles.

These specialized manufacturers must constantly continue their own employee training regarding cross contamination exposures. Do you realize that if an employee eating an allergen before or during a shift break could cause contamination? The entire facility must be free of allergens, and that means everyone that works there! Mainstream manufacturers do not require all the people in their facilities to be gluten free and allergy free when they walk in the door.

As you can imagine, the cost to this point is much higher than mainstream manufacturing processes. Additionally, many of these companies are a “Labor of Love”. They were started by individuals that either had food restrictions themselves or were tasked with finding safe food for a loved one. These are not the “General Mills” of the world, these are hardworking people that felt they had a mission in life to provide safe food for their families, friends and others in the Food Allergy and Food Intolerant community. To these small and specialty manufacturers, Gluten free and Allergy free food is a necessity, not just a business.

Allergies and MeAllergiesandme.com is an online shop that gives stressed out families the ability to shop online for allergy free and gluten free food with confidence and provide as much product and manufacturer information as possible..

Cross Contamination

Have you ever gotten into arguments with grocery store staff, I have.

At one store, I explained to the person in the meat counter that I have a milk allergic daughter, and that I have been enjoying Lilydales meat products with their new "No milk ingredients" on what appears to be all their packaging. I then asked if they had any more Lilydale products other that the ones I was pointing to.

She proudly took me to the deli with the meat butcher, who could slice me Lilydale meat. We had a conversation about cross contamination, she thought that cross contamination only applied to nuts, then tried to convince me that they had a lot of lactose free milks. Needless to say I was not impressed, an had an educational discussion with her.

The next time I was at the same store, their was a sign for gluten free meat, that was also lactose free (no info if it was dairy free) next to a butcher that was willing to cross contaminate it with his slicer! Apparently some people never learn.

Past post on Lilydale here.

Sorry for the lack of posts, to much going on here, If your interested in doing a guest post over the summer send me an e-mail.

Contacting Manufacturers

We allergic consumers, spend a great deal of time, contacting manufacturers by phone or e-mail. What method do you prefer?

The hours of e-mail are better, in that they really don't care if you send an e-mail question three O'clock in the afternoon, or three O'clock at night. Some allergic people prefer being able to read the tone of the customer service person's voice. With e-mail, if an e-mail answer does not sound right we can always send another question via another e-mail, if get another answer, flags go up in our heads.

I like that more companies are putting allergen information on their websites, however often we have more questions, and do not like being short answered. Allergic consumers are very knowledgeable about our allergens, and appreciate knowledgeable answers. We get VERY frustrated if we are told that they only give out allergen information to health care professionals. Manufactures be aware we allergic consumers talk, blog, Facebook and Tweet about allergies, and manufactures who do not provide us with the answers we NEED!

Lately I have been hearing of people being asked for doctors notes, before manufactures will give out allergen information. I had this experience a couple of years ago, it is coming back as a mini trend.

Lilydale

I would like to give Lilydale a thumbs up for this clear labeling right on the front "NO MILK INGREDIENTS".

Often on hot days I'll serve salad, salad wraps, fruit and a little cold meat and it's lunch. Sometimes I'll also serve crackers and hummus or some fruit along with. Then everyone digs into what they want.

I could not however, find any cross contamination information on the packaging or their website.

What Ingredients

Allergic families, and individuals, are still fighting with manufactures to label foods properly not only do they not reveal cross contamination risks, or hide milk under other names, but sometimes they just plain don't label anything. Here is a quote "MADE IN CANADA FROM DOMESTIC AND IMPORTED INGREDIENTS" no hint what these ingredients may be at all, anywhere on the package.

I questioned the manager why he had such products, drawing his attention to allergic families. He brought out the box, they came in that I could read the ingredients from. He was confused, as if not to understand my suggestion that he send them back. He agreed that the packages should have ingredients, but refused the idea of sending them back.

March Break

March Break has been good so far, enjoying play dates, small outings, reading and board games with the kids. We are all getting over a cold so we were slow moving at first.


Our eldest was invited to a friends, cupcake party. I packed Guardian Angel Foods Chocolate And Raspberry Muffins, dairy free icing and some candy that was allergy safe. The Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips were well used. I was confident that the host, and my child knew to keep things separated during the party. She even brought home the decorated cupcakes in the Guardian Angel Box that the muffins came in.

Some Guardian Angel products are still not getting out to some Ontario stores, so I was lucky to find the chocolate muffins, as my local Metro has replaced some of Guardian Angel's shelf space with other products, and have not received any cakes for a long time now.

Another day we went off on a hike, we saw a beautiful waterfall, and went to visit The Dundas Museum. We stopped at a bench in their garden and had a small picnic, before exploring more.

While in Dundas we went to The Horn of Plenty health food store and picked up some dairy free items. I've heard good things about the Horn of Plenty, but till now have never been. the store went back a fair ways with lots of "free from" foods. it had a large bulk section that would not be good for us, as an allergic family, but at one time I would have enjoyed.

Come see some pictures of our outings (old and new) at my Ontario Family Fun Blog. Enjoy your March Break.

Dainty Rice - Nuts

I am reading my package of Dainty Rice
It says:

ALLERGEN INFORMATION: Packaged on the same equipment as products containing nuts and sulphates

I have never seen a nut warning on Dainty Rice before, this time I did get a different style of rice, from them than usual. I always read ingredients in the grocery store then again before the first time I open a package. Nuts are not an allergen in our home, but this struck me as very odd, and a reminder to all always read your labels.

Dainty Rice
Time - Wise
All Natural
Whole Grain Brown

Dairy Free Market

Press release:

Introducing Dairy Free Market: A Unique Online Food Store Specializing in Foods Without Dairy

Site Offers a Wide Selection of Products for People Who Avoid Dairy and Other Food Allergens - An estimated 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant. With them in mind, Free-from Foods, LLC announces the opening of Dairy Free Market at www.dairyfreemarket.com. The online food store exclusively sells food without dairy, including baking ingredients and mixes, cereal, cheese alternatives, non-dairy chocolate, cookies and snack/energy bars.

Many products sold are also free from other common allergens, such as egg, gluten, nut and soy – perfect for anyone with a food allergy, intolerance, or special diet (e.g., celiac, gluten-free/casein-free, kosher and vegan).

“Our site helps take the guesswork out of grocery shopping,” said Founder Jeff Eder, who himself is lactose and potato intolerant. “I created Dairy Free Market for people like me, who want to buy foods that meet their dietary needs without the hassle of shopping at multiple stores, or the frustration of settling for the limited choices on local grocery shelves.”

The site offers brands such as Cherrybrook Kitchen, Enjoy Life Foods, NuGo and Road's End Organics - popular among adults and children alike.

Dairy Free Market ships everywhere in the U.S. and currently offers free shipping on orders over $100.

Experience a taste of food freedom at www.dairyfreemarket.com

For more information:
Jeff Eder
Free-from Foods, LLC / Dairy Free Market
215-850-1326

Interview with Jeff Edner, the founder of Dairy Free Market

Interview: Dairy Free Market

Interview with Jeff Eder,
the founder of Dairy Free Market

(www.dairyfreemarket.com).

The Dairy Free market is an online store for people and families who are unable to consume dairy or other food allergens.

What do you hope to bring to the allergic, and food intolerant community, with Dairy Free Market?
Dairy Free Market (www.DairyFreeMarket.com) was founded after years of personal experience surveying both the physical and online grocery world only to find a limited number of dairy free foods available to (and easily identifiable by) the allergic and food intolerant community. Dairy Free Market hopes to be just the opposite of what you find in a traditional supermarket when it comes to finding dairy free foods - we aim to help the food allergy and intolerance community quickly focus in on the dairy free products available to them by offering a unique shopping experience that they cannot find anywhere else when it comes to selecting dairy free and other “free-from” foods. Dairy Free Market offers the allergic and food intolerant community a wide selection of dairy free products - all in one location, at low prices, and knowledgeable and responsive customer service.

How much of a role did your intolerances, and allergies play in deciding to start Dairy Free Market?
My own food intolerances (dairy and potato) played a major role in the idea for starting Dairy Free Market. A simple blood test about eight years ago confirmed my suspicion of multiple food intolerances. Then, after discovering how difficult it could be to conveniently shop for my specific diet, I began to look online to see what dairy free products were available and where they could be accessed - I quickly realized that not enough of these products were being collected under one roof so I seized the opportunity help solve that problem. Therefore, my site ((www.dairyfreemarket.com) understands what the allergic and food intolerant community goes through on a daily basis and aims to offer them a shopping venue that welcomes their special diets.

How does your on-line store work, for people with multiple food allergies?
Dairy Free Market will soon introduce a “Search by Allergen” feature that can take customers directly to the products that match their exact criteria. In the meantime, customers can use our Lifestyle categories (allergen categories including dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, soy free; GFCF; kid-friendly; kosher; organic and vegan) to display the products that fit their diet. As an example, if you were looking for foods on www.dairyfreemarket.com that contained both no dairy and no gluten, simply click on the green gluten free button or the text link on the left-side menu and be taken to a page showing you all the products we sell in that category.

What can our readers who use your store expect in the way of customer service?
Dairy Free Market is not a giant supermarket and therefore has the time to devote to each customer. All customers of Dairy Free Market can expect an easy to navigate web site and checkout process, as well as a prompt and personalized response to orders placed and product and shipping inquiries. We take great pride in communicating product and order details to our customers and always want to keep them aware of the special offers we are offering, be it free shipping, a discount code, etc.

How do you go about selecting products for your store, what standards do you have?
Dairy Free Market selects dairy free foods that fall into a number of different product (cookies, snack bars, baking ingredients, chocolate, etc.) and lifestyle categories (vegan, kosher, organic, gluten-free casein-free, free from other allergens, etc.) and we therefore spend a good deal of time talking to manufacturers to find the latest and greatest dairy free products out there and hope to share as many of them with our customers as soon as possible. However, the primary requirement of all items sold by Dairy Free Market is that they must not contain dairy of any kind (no lactose, no casein, no whey). In some cases, the products we sell may have been made in the same facility or on the same equipment as milk products (a common issue in the dairy free world), however, we try to minimize those cases and if they do exist, we make those instances clear to customers.

Your selection of foods has been steadily expanding. What new products can we expect to see in your store?
In the coming months, Dairy Free Market will be adding many more dairy free baking mixes and ingredients, some newcomers to the dairy free snack bar world, a sugar free line featuring brands such as Aunt Gussie’s and showcasing the gluten-free products of Nana’s Cookie Company. Dairy Free Market will also be venturing into carrying a line of dairy free cheese! Finally, as we approach Halloween, Dairy Free Market will be featuring Enjoy Life Foods Choco Boom dairy free chocolate bars, as well as NuGo Crispy Cat candy bars - perfect for the non-dairy trick-or-treater!

Dairy Free Shopping

I just used Google Docs to create a Sample Dairy Free Shopping list My plan is to update it at least once more with things I'm buying dairy free.

Right now you can comment on whats on your dairy free shopping list! I'm not sure how long I'll keep this Google Docs thing going but it should be interesting!

It is always up to you to determain what is safe, and there are lots of things I buy only once and awhile.

Organic Garage

We just came back from Organic Garage in Oakville Ontario

We got some dairy free vegan Honey Bars nut bars held together by honey

Finally found some Smooze dairy and gluten free fruit ice pops

Double Chocolate Vegan Cookies by Organic works. A while back we visited Organic Works vegan nut free bakery read that post

Manitoba Harvest Sale

From Manitoba Harvest

Get ready for the biggest deal that we have ever offered.This month when you order $250 or more you will receive a FREE five pound pail of Manitoba Harvest Shelled Hemp Seed (value $50). Whether you are planning on adding more nutritious hemp foods to your diet or combining an order with friends, this is the month to take advantage of our super special.


Expires: Sun Aug 2nd
Code NLJuly09

Allergies and Me

From Allergies and Me

We have officially launched the website!

Our product offering is expanding weekly with even more unique items on the way!

If you have a great product that you would like to see us carry, please feel free to drop me a line.

You can also sign up for their news letter or follow them on twitter.

Trade Ya

There are a plethora of nut free food manufactures in Canada. Americans have been known to cross the boarder, order on line in bulk nut free products from Canada.

Canada does have some good dairy free products, but there are some dairy free products in the States we can’t get up here. Sometimes dairy free American manufacturers, only send a few of their products up North.

I’m not an economist, but in the name of free trade why can’t Canadian manufactures send our nut free goodies north, and Americans send their dairy free goodies south. This doesn’t sound too difficult in boarder cities and towns, does it?

I’m sure there are all sorts of regulations and layers of red tape why not. On the surface no manufacturing jobs would be lost, if we both agreed to help, and trade with each other. There are a few Canadian manufactures that are dairy free, that Americans don’t have on their shelves as well. I’m not trying to put these companies down, or the dairy free companies that we do have, I just want more choices.

Ordering Nut Free from Canada
Milk Free Products
Nut Free List

Allergies and Me

Allergies and More is an online store for people with food allergies. Scheduled to be fully optional mid July. Foods for the dairy - free egg - free, gluten wheat - free, peanut free soy - free and multiple allergies.

Sign up for their e-newsletter.
Receive exclusive offers, seasonal recipes, news and allergy alerts.

Visit their Tasty Tidbits Blog

Follow them on Twitter or Facebook

Free From Market

From Free From Market

Free From Market is a total allergy specialty store in a s/w Chicago suburb with the region's largest gluten-/allergen free food selection, HEPA Air Purifiers [that actually work], paraben- & petro-chemical free health and beauty, mattress & pillow encasements, allergen free supplements, etc.

Something unique: every ingredient of everyproduct (not just foods) can be filtered by common allergen. We were inspired by our two daughters who are anaphylactic to several foods (dairy, egg, soy), gluten intollerant, asthmatic, and allergic to various fauna and flora.