The Buzz Around New England: Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies

Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies are wheat-free, gluten-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free and milk-free.  The owner and founder, Liz Gilbert, knows firsthand about life with multiple food allergies. She developed food allergies as an adult and is now allergic to corn, gluten, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, wheat and also some medications.

Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies is a commercial bakery offering a variety of cookies, tea breads, pies and more. Liz developed the recipes for these treats after months of working to discover the perfect combinations of ingredients to achieve the taste and texture she desired.  She's even taken classes at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in upstate New York.   

Formerly a human resources executive for a fortune 500 company, Liz and Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies seem poised for great success making tasty treats without those ingredients so many people have to avoid.  Not surprising, demand is up, and Gilbert's is producing cookies in greater and greater numbers.  Perhaps Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies may soon come to a store near you!  In the meantime, you can order directly from Liz.  

Gilbert's Gourmet Goodies is located in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Email liz@gilbertsgourmetgoodies or telephone 203.733.8217.

Include Allergy Information on Health Cards?

I am finishing up the latest "Buzz Around New England" and plan to post that on Wednesday, August 20.  It'll be about a baker who bakes goodies that fit many restricted diets so don't forget to come back Wednesday!  In the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to this interesting article in The News from Nova Scotia and get your reaction.  What's your opinion?  Do you think it would be helpful to have food allergies listed on health cards and licenses?  It sounds good to me...

http://www.ngnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=163040&sc=49

The idea is being proposed by the Karen Lynn MacDonald Allergy Awareness Society, also mentioned in this article: http://www.ngnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=163038&sc=49.

It's always interesting to see what is going on in other places!

Free Shipping for New Food Allergy Cookbook

Over the weekend, I received a great tip for all of you cooking for dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free diets.  Linda Coss' new book "What Else is to Eat?" is now on sale.  If you have not heard about it, here is a quick summary:

"What Else is to Eat?" features recipes for foods that everyone can enjoy, whether they have food allergies or not. Main dishes, side dishes, breakfast foods, and baked goods are all included. With an emphasis on fast and easy recipes that use "normal," easy-to-find ingredients, this book is designed for today's busy lifestyles."

The official publication date is September 15, 2008, but you can get an "advance" copy at www.FoodAllergyBooks.com/order.htm.  And if you order by August 31, 2008 and enter the coupon code CB2B, you can receive the book via priority mail to U.S. shipping addresses for FREE!

New Peanut-Free & Gluten-Free Candies

Have you heard about Sixlets candy? They’re colorful small chocolate flavored candies--made from carob, I believe--with a candy coating. And they are manufactured in a peanut-free, tree nut-free facility. SweetWorks, the manufacturer, contacted me recently to share news of two new flavors: P-Not flavored Sixlets and More Chocolatey Sixlets. The “original” and new “more chocolatey” flavors are gluten-free too. We had some of the new Sixlets recently and were impressed--the P-Not Sixlets taste remarkably like peanut butter but they’re not! It’s incredible. They’re a perfect fix for those “peanut-avoiding purists” who miss the taste of peanut butter candies. And the More Chocolatey Sixlets are a good candy fix too. Good info to keep in mind for those times when you find yourself near the candy aisle or the candy shop!

Sixlets Allergen Information

"More Chocolatey Sixlets and original Sixlets
More Chocolatey Sixlets and original Sixlets are gluten free, peanut free and nut free. They are made in a peanut and tree nut free facility. This product has some allergens - (Soy) lecithin & (Milk) whey powder.

P-Not Butter Sixlets
P-Not-Butter Sixlets do not contain peanuts or tree nuts. They are made in a peanut and tree nut free facility. This product shares some allergens - (Soy) lecithin (Milk) whey powder, as that of our regular Sixlets. Also, our raw material supplier for P-Not Butter Sixlets cannot guarantee presence of gluten in the soy flour that we use for P-Not Butter Sixlets, so we must say that this product may contain gluten as a precautionary statement.

Cross Contact
To prevent cross contamination of P-Not Butter Sixlets with our other Sixlets, we implement production scheduling to prevent cross contact and cleaning & sanitation validation procedures (ATP) to monitor cleaning efficiency. We also pack these two products separately on separate packaging lines."

Help with Food Allergy Management at School

With the start of the school year upon us, there's an understandable uptick in the discussions about food allergies and school.  There's no shortage of advice both online and in print on how to plan and prepare for school with food allergies.  I have listed some particularly informative pages in the sidebar for easy reference.  I have faith that it will go smoothly for most of us.  If you ever frequent the online food allergy discussion groups or bulletin boards, however, you'll see there are plenty of horror stories of schools refusing to accommodate or avoidable allergic reactions.  I'd like to share with you a resource to keep in mind should the need ever arise.

If you ever need or want assistance in ensuring that your child is adequately protected at school, there are people who can help you.  One example is the consulting firm Educating for Food Allergies, LLC (EFFA), located outside of Boston, MA. For nearly a decade, EFFA has been assisting families and schools with food allergy management.  They provide training to cafeteria staff, school nurses, teachers and other school staff.  They also assist individual families with drafting an IHP or 504 plan and even advocate for families who reach an impasse in food allergy management discussions with their schools.

Jan Hanson and Shelly Creager are the founders of EFFA.  Jan is an Education Administrator and Shelly is a registered nurse.  They are both eminently qualified and experienced in dealing with food allergies in schools.  They have provided assistance to individuals and schools in more than 75 towns.  Also of note,  they “conduct 2 professional development workshops for school nurses every year, for the past 2 years, and have trained over 60 school nurses from different towns throughout Massachusetts in this way (EFFA meets the requirements of the Mass. Registration in Nursing to provide contact hours for continuing education for nurses)....(they) are also registered with the Mass. Dept. of Education to provide professional development points (PDP’s) for teachers.

They are a good resource to be aware of and keep in mind.  I have highlighted only a portion of their extensive experience. The EFFA website, http://www.foodallergyed.com, provides much more detail. For more information, please visit their website or contact Jan and Shelly by telephone (781) 982-7029, fax (781) 982-7037 or email FoodAllergyEd@verizon.net.

Michigan Food Science Students Win With Allergen-Free Cookies

This article caught my eye.  It is about the Institute of Food Technologists food product development competition which took place in June.  A team of seven Michigan State University students created a refrigerated gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough which is free of the top eight food allergens as defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The product is called Ready-to-Dough.  It isn't on the market yet, but what a great story!  To learn more, read this Lansing State Journal article, So Sweet: MSU team takes No. 1 in U.S. for cookie.