Valentine's Day & Your Celiac Child

[Lisa]

Submitted from the NFCA Newsletter - Open Original Shared Link

Valenine's Day and Your Celiac Child

By Abby Schwartz, NFCA Volunteer Staff Writer

Valentine's Day is almost here. Unlike the ubiquitous pizza parties that pop up throughout the school year, this is one occasion that is easy for your celiac child to enjoy. If your child's class is having a party, ask the teacher to provide some suggestions to the parents who volunteer to bring in treats. Many mainstream, store-bought candies are gluten-free, including M&Ms, Hershey's Kisses, all flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans, Snickers and Snickers Dark bars, Skittles, Starbursts, and the list goes on. A word about M&Ms. It was always my understanding that crispy M&Ms do contain gluten. My advice is to double-check the labels of any "crispy" versions to look for the presence of gluten (watch for malt).

Sweet Talk Your Kid

Remember when you were a kid and Valentine's Day meant the reappearance of those pastel-colored candy hearts with the fun sayings on them? Well, guess what? They are still around and they are gluten-free. Necco, the manufacturer of Valentine Sweethearts Conversation Hearts

[ang1e0251]

I thought mini versions of full size candy bars that are gluten-free, often contain gluten. Was I wrong to avoid those??

[Lisa]

I thought mini versions of full size candy bars that are gluten-free, often contain gluten. Was I wrong to avoid those??

Years ago there was some discussion "mini's" versions may contain gluten. I have not seen documentation that supports that. I would contact the specific companies such as Hershey's or Mars for the correct information. Never the less, ingredients should be listed. (but barley, malt is not required)