Thursday 2 February 2012

Haribo - Gluten Free Information

haribo sweets
An Assortment of Gluten Free Haribo

I'm having one of those days, so I thought I would post about something that always makes me smile, Haribo!

I found out very early on that most Haribo sweets are gluten free thanks to their (previously - see update below) very informative website. You are literally spoilt for choice when it comes to this brand. In that photo there's a mix of loads of different types of Haribo, you can probably make out the ghosts from the Spooky Ghosts selection (you may not know this, but I'm Halloween mad).

Here's what Haribo say on their website about gluten free:
Most Haribo products are gluten free. The following Haribo products are NOT gluten free: Black Licorice Wheels, Red Licorice Wheels, Sour S’ghetti, Fruity Pasta, Brixx, Konfekt and Pontefract Cakes.
Here's allergy information:
 The following Haribo products contain wheat flour: Sour S'ghetti, Fruity Pasta, Brixx, Black Licorice Wheels, Red Licorice Wheels, Konfekt and Pontefract Cakes. Strawberries & Cream and Konfekt contain milk.
When you look at the amount of Haribo sweets out there to buy, you'll see that us gluten free peeps can have way more of the sweets than the ones we can't. That's something to smile about.

I'm off to make gluten free chicken kebabs and to shake this doom cloud from above my head. I may even eat some Haribo first!

UPDATE 18/2/13

I discovered a new kind of Haribo jelly sweet that I wanted to post about, they're called Jellicons and are great. However, as I was about to write the post I decided to head over to the Haribo website to get their official gluten free information on them.

Problem.

There is no gluten free information on the site anymore. I submitted a contact form to ask what was happening and this is the reply that I got:

"Thank you for your enquiry regarding our products.

The way products are labelled is determined by UK and European Union laws. The laws relating to gluten free labelling have changed which mean we are no longer permitted to label our products as "Gluten Free".
Previously a product that contained less than 200mg of gluten per Kilo was deemed gluten free. After the change this has now changed to 20mg per Kilo and our suppliers cannot guarantee that the materials supplied are less than the current standard.

Please find attached our current UK low gluten list."

In case you don't know about the gluten free labelling laws that came in last year click that link.

Here's the low gluten list that Haribo gave me:

haribo gluten free list
Click To Enlarge
I've been eating Haribo for years, all through last year after the law had changed and I've definitely not had any reactions. Notice that this post was originally published in Feb of last year, by which time the labelling laws were already in place and the original information that I got from the official Haribo website was gathered. Confusing.

UPDATE 16/1/14

I update this post with a warning. If like me you enjoy your gluten free types of Haribo but maybe feel like a sugar free same tasting option might better for other health reasons, DON'T DO IT.

I'm lucky that I haven't seen a sugar free version because it's highly likely I would have bought it. I'm extremely thankful that I can give this warning from other people's experiences rather than my own.

To put it bluntly, the sugar substitute in sugar free Haribo acts as a laxative, as many, many people have discovered through hellish (possibly some of us who have been exposed to gluten could relate), embarrassing experiences of doom.

Read only if you want very detailed examples of the outcomes:


10 comments:

  1. thanks for this info !

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  2. This is great I need to buy my teacher a thank u present now I know what to get her

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  3. I just love Harobos but am SO glad i read your post about the sugar free gummi bears and the ensuing hilarious posts on Amazon. There for the Grace of God .......!!

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  4. Indeed! So funny :)

    Your comment made me smile x

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  5. your mistaken on the sugar free Haribo... Haribo don't product any sugar free products, only sugar reduced with no laxative effect. Your link is to a different brand and product. Thanks for the gluten free info tho.

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  6. The reply from Haribo is not 100% correct.
    Let's make this short: anything can be labelled as gluten-free IF 100% gluten-free. But most producers indicate the risk of manufacturing non gluten-free product, too - indicating the cross-polluting.
    ALSO: in EU it is a strict law that you need to highlight ALL allergens independently from the quantity in final product. HTH, cheers :)

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  7. Thanks for this really it really helps when you are a celiac

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  8. It really helps when you are a celiac .
    Thank you.
    Post all gluten free related info pls .
    Thank you again !!!!

    ReplyDelete

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