Blog | Page 10 | Celiac Kids Connection

Holiday Party 2017 – Tons of Fun

By Francie Kelley, Executive Director, Celiac Kids Connection

The annual holiday party is always one of the most fun days for members of Celiac Kids Connection. This year’s event at Brandeis on December 3^rd was no exception.

Over 300 members attended. We tasted products from the 15 vendors, who came to the event, and from many others who sent samples. We enjoyed a catered gluten-free (GF) lunch from Lola’s Italian Groceria of Natick and a spectacular cake made by our board member Debbie Ferguson.

Over 20 vendors donated door prizes and we recognized several members who made contributions to the group this year. The Marina Keegan award for service to the celiac and GF community was given to Emma Griffin. Emma is an active teen member of our group; serving as a mentor and writing for our newsletter. Two of our teens, Dana Lowitt and Lilly Kripp, were recognized for completing Green Ribbon Projects. Teens take on these projects to benefit the members of our group.

We also recognized our mentors. Thirteen of our teen members are acting as mentors to our newer members. They are all doing an amazing job.

Kids had a chance to decorated a GF cookie and we all worked together to create a GF gingerbread house. The gingerbread house will be on display in the lobby of the Waltham location of Boston Children’s Hospital (9 Hope Ave, Waltham, MA) beginning on December 15^th.

The highlight of the party was dancing till dawn with DJ Mike! Well, this was a family event; the dancing really ended at 3 pm. But, we had dozens of kids out on the dance floor right up until it was time to leave.

We all had a terrific time and cannot wait until next year’s party.

Celiac Kids Connections – 25 Years of Families Supporting Each Other

By Francie Kelley, Executive Director, Celiac Kids Connection

In 1992, 34 families gathered at the Boston location of Boston Children’s Hospital to form a group for kids with celiac disease and their families. That was 25 years ago. And on September 24, 2017, we gathered to celebrate this achievement.

We hosted the event at Gillian’s Foods in Salem, MA. Gillian and her family were among the first members of our group. Her Dad, Bob Otolo, developed recipes that worked with Gillian’s gluten-free diet. Those recipes ultimately led to Gillian’s Food.

Current and former members attended the event. We heard about the first meeting and the early days of the group from our founder, Tracy Keegan, and our first Medical Advisor, Dr. Alan Leichtner. We even played a bingo game based on the history of the group.

Dr. Weir, Dr. Leichtner & Tracy Keegan

Kids got to make their own cupcakes, enjoy a photo booth and see a place where gluten-free products are made.

We want to thank our volunteers, without them it would be impossible to host our events. Thank you to Nomi and Kayla Munroe; Sue, Sam and the entire Offsey family; Ashley Rossiter, Karen Sandman, Sonia Mulgund, Maureen Williams, Eileen Donovan, Lily Tobar-Fawley, Evan Ferguson, Nicole Weinsten, and Stephanie Tellier. We also want to thank our Board, Alvaro Tobar, Laura Warren, Julia Bandini, Debbie Ferguson, Dr. Dascha Weir, Alexandra Weinsten, and Nate Couture.

Happy Birthday Celiac Kids Connection!

Join us for Celiac Smarts

April 29, 2026

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March 26, 2026

2024 Gluten-Free Candy List

October 1, 2024

Tips for Eating Safe GF School Provided Meals

August 26, 2024

Gluten-Free Candy Guide

Updated September, 2026

This list was compiled by Celiac Kids Connection at Boston Children’s Hospital. It is intended only as a general information resource and is based on information provided by manufacturers. Individual product ingredients, recipes and formulas are subject to change without notice. Company website and phone numbers are provided for you to verify this information.

It is the responsibility of each individual to read product labels and determine if the product is gluten free or not. Celiac Kids Connection at Boston Children’s Hospital and its members do not endorse the use of these products or services or warrant them to be gluten free in anyway.

This list of gluten-free (GF) candy is sorted by company. Many of your favorite candies may be made by a company you do not associate with that candy. If you do not know the parent company, you can often find the name on the product label. In addition, this list is searchable. Open the list in Adobe reader and use the search or magnifying glass icon and search for the name of your favorite candy.

Download and print for your convenience

Find Carb Counts

Carb Counts

If your child has the dual diagnosis of celiac disease and type 1 diabetes, Breakthrough T1D compiles a list of common candies and their carb counts. The Breakthrough T1D candy list can be found here.

Please Note - Not all the candy on the Breakthrough T1D list are GF.

After determining that the candy is GF, you can use the Breakthrough list to find the carb count.

Ferrara Candy Company

800-358-1971 http://www.ferrarausa.com

From an e-mail dated 8/31/2026

Ferrara products that are gluten-free can be identified through our product information and ingredient listings. Check the front of the package for a gluten free claim or certification bug to help you understand if the product meets the gluten free requirement. We encourage you to continue to review product packaging for the most up-to-date product information, as ingredients and product formulation may change.

Ferrara produces candy under the following labels

Atomic Fireball ● Black Forest ● Boston Baked Beans ● Bottle Caps ● Brachs ● Carambar ● Chuckles ● Disqueti ● Dori ● Fun Dip ● Funables ● Gobstopper ● Gomets ● Jelly Belly ● Juicyfruits ● Krema ● Laffy Taffy ● Lemonhead ● Lutti ● Nerds ● Now and Later ● Pettiz ● Pixie Stix ● Poulain ● Red Hots ● Runts ● Spree ● SweetTarts ● Terry’s Chocolate ● Trolli ● Tubo ●
Vichy

The Hershey Company

800-468-1714 (call or text) http://bit.ly/HersheyGF

PLEASE NOTE:

This link brings you to a GF statement from Hershey. There is a link to “View all Gluten-Free Products”. This link brings you to the full list of Hershey products with a gluten-free filter on the list. Before using the list, please double check the filters on the left side of your screen and ensure that the gluten-free filter has been selected. The list is extensive and includes over 200 items.

For the most up-to-date listing of Hershey’s GF products, use the link provided. Our downloadable list has an appendix of Hershey products and is current as of September, 2026.

JUST BORN, Inc.

888-645-3453
www.justborn.com

From the Just Born FAQ Page

We offer many gluten-free products under the MIKE AND IKE®, HOT TAMALES® , PEEPS®, GOLDENBERG’S® , PEANUT CHEWS®, TEENEE BEANEE® and JUST BORN® brands and we are in the process of updating package labels to include gluten-free statements where appropriate.

The modified food starch that we use in our candies is corn starch. However, because some of our products may be manufactured and/or packaged in a facility that may also handle non gluten-free products, we encourage consumers to read the labels carefully for the most up-to-date ingredient and allergen information. For further questions, please call our Customer Relations Team toll-free at 1-888-645-3453.

M&M / Mars Candy

800-974-4539 www.mars.com/made-by-mars/mars-wrigley

From an e-mail dated 9/01/2026

Currently, Mars Wrigley Chocolate products do not have a gluten-free claim. If a product includes a gluten-containing ingredient, the ingredient statement will list the gluten source (e.g., wheat, barley, rye, oats).

The pack is the most accurate source of information. We recommend that you check the ingredient statement and any allergen statements on the pack each time before consuming our product.

Please note that whether or not the product includes a “may contain” statement, it is never labeled as gluten free because we cannot guarantee that it is gluten free despite the cleaning and other protocols that we use at our sites.

The following is a list of U.S. Mars Wrigley fruity confection, gum and mint products that are currently formulated WITHOUT ingredients containing wheat, oat, rye or barley gluten. Slight changes to product recipes can occur from time to time.

ALWAYS check the ingredient label for accurate ingredient composition:

Wrigley's SPEARMINT® gum
FREEDENT® gum
DOUBLEMINT® gum
EXTRA® gum
BIG RED® gum
ECLIPSE® gum
JUICY FRUIT® gum
WINTERFRESH® gum
Orbit® gum
ORBIT® White gum
LIFESAVERS®
ALTOIDS®
5®
SKITTLES® bite size candies
STARBURST® fruit chew products

The packaging material directly next to our product does not contain gluten sources. When starches are used on the label around each individual stick of gum, but these starches are produced from corn or potatoes, not from wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet or buckwheat.

We recommend that you check the ingredient statement and any allergen statements on the pack each time before consuming our product.

Smarties

www.smarties.com

From the Gluten Free Candy section of the "Our Candy" Page

All Smarties® candy made by Smarties Candy Company is gluten free and safe for people with Celiac Disease.
If you are at a loss for classic gluten free candy, Smarties® products are your delicious solution. Delight your sweet tooth with our tangy and sweet candy rolls!
Note: There are some products with the Smarties brand that are not manufactured by Smarties Candy Company. We recommend always checking a product’s ingredients prior to purchase. If the UPC number on the packaging begins with “0 11206”, you can be assured that the product is gluten free, manufactured in a facility that makes exclusively gluten free products and safe to eat for people with Celiac Disease.

Spangler Candy Company

888-636-4221 https://www.spanglercandy.com

You are familiar with Dum-Dums, Necco, Bit-O-Honey, Sweetheart, and many more Spangler candies.

From an email dated 9/14/2026

Thank you for contacting Spangler Candy Company. Allergen information is on each package, and under each product on our website, www.spanglercandy.com. Thank you for your interest in our products.

Tootsie Roll Industries

Tootsie Roll Industries

773-838-3400

www.tootsie.com

From the Tootsie FAQ Page

At this time all of our confections are gluten free. We do not use wheat, barley, rye, oats, triticale, spelt or any of their components and that includes our dusting on our conveyor belts. We do use corn and soy products in the manufacturing of our products.

List of Tootsie Candy

Andes
Candy Blox
Candy Carnival
Caramel Apple Pops
Cella's
Charleston Chew
Charms
Child’s Play
Cry Baby
Dots
Dubble Bubble
Fluffy Stuff
Frooties
Fruit Chews
Junior Caramels
Junior Mints
Nik-L-Nip
Razzles
Sour Chews
Sugar Babies
Sugar Daddy
Tootsie Pops
Tootsie Roll
Wack-O-Wax

Oats: Are they safe?

By Dascha Weir, MD

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of Celiac Digest, the Celiac Kids Connection newsletter.

For people with celiac disease, oats have become complicated. It used to be quite straightforward. While pure oats had been shown to be safe for most people with celiac disease (CD), they were not readily available.

Not so long ago, commercially available oats were all contaminated with wheat (or barley or rye) in the process of cultivation, transport, processing and packaging. They were simply not safe, so the gluten-free (GF) diet was defined as the elimination of wheat, barley, rye, and oats.

The development and increasing availability of so-called GF oats has broadened our options but also has created questions about the reliability and safety of our food.

The initially available GF oats were carefully grown on dedicated GF fields and transported, processed and packaged in specialized GF environments. These contamination-free or “purity protocol” oats are GF and well-tolerated by most people with CD.

However, “gluten-free” oats are no longer all “purity protocol” oats. Mechanical optical sorting, new technology developed to render conventionally grown oats GF, is now widely used. Oats used in foods labeled as GF may now include oats that have contact with gluten-containing grains in the fields or during harvesting and processing but are then separated from wheat, barley and rye by color, size and shape. This sorting process, while theoretically sound, has not been proven to consistently produce oats that are <20 ppm gluten and safe for people with CD.

As with many aspects of the GF diet, the devil is in the details.

Tricia Thompson of Gluten Free Watchdog, along with other CD experts, has drawn attention to these complexities. Ultimately, this sorting technology is only as good as the rigorous testing protocol used along with it to ensure the sorting worked. It is essential to confirm that gluten is reliably removed from sorted oats.

Gluten screening in foods is a complex task, from choosing the right test to ensuring that the food is appropriately sampled. For example, a recent article by Fritz et al in the journal Food Chemistry (1), highlighted that the process of grinding oats for testing can unevenly disperse gluten in a sample so that a single test may inadequately capture the entire gluten risk present.

Gluten Free Watchdog has reported that 14% of the oat products they have tested were above 20 ppm. For these reasons, at this time, we strongly urge skepticism about mechanically sorted GF oats and now recommend avoiding these products.

The bottom line is that “gluten-free” oats may be inconsistently GF. It is important to know what kind of oats you are buying. Determine the oat supplier of your favorite granola or other oat-containing foods. It is important to find out if the oats in your GF-labeled foods are purity protocol oats or not. Your CD dietitian and resources like Gluten Free Watchdog can be helpful, but the best way to get up-to-date information is still to question the manufacturer directly.

(1) Fritz et al. Gluten-containing grains skew gluten assessment in oats due to sample grind non-homogeneity. (2017) Food Chemistry. 216, 170-175.

Oats: Are they safe?

October 4, 2017

After the Diagnosis of Celiac Disease: Medical Follow-Up

January 17, 2017

Think your Child has Problems with Gluten?

January 17, 2017

Celiac Disease 101: The Basics

November 13, 2016

Stormy Weather – Don’t Forget the Gluten-Free Food

By Francie Kelley, Executive Director, Celiac Kids Connection, Boston Children’s Hospital

In the wake of hurricane Harvey, with Irma on the way and our New England winter just around the corner, we need to think about being prepared. Here is a reprint of an article from our August, 2016 edition of “Celiac Digest” about emergency preparations.

The hurricane season is upon us and that will be followed by winter. Both hurricanes and winter storms bring with them the possibility of lost electricity, being stranded at home and even the possibility that you may need to evacuate.

Being prepared for emergencies is important for everyone. And a lot of what you need to do to prepare has nothing to do with celiac disease or the gluten-free (GF) diet. But, if stores are unable to get deliveries, fresh food will run out, shelves will be depleted and finding GF options could be difficult. In a major disaster, relief agencies and shelters may not be equipped to handle the GF diet. For families with a member with celiac disease, our preparation for emergencies needs to include ensuring access to GF food.

The Red Cross and the Federal Government have great information on-line for preparing an emergency plan. They also have great lists of the items you should include in your emergency kit. To get to the Red Cross information go to www.redcross.org and type “emergency kit” into the search box. This will give you the link for preparing an emergency kit. For the government information go to www.ready.gov and type “emergency” into the search box. This will give you links for preparing an emergency kit as well as downloading a guide for emergency preparations.

Emergency plans can be very elaborate or very basic. I tend toward a Pollyanna view and keep plans basic. For me the critical elements are having a communication plan, plenty of battery operated lights, a battery operated radio and a full tank of gas. Most of the time, I do not have a full tank of gas. In fact, I typically wait until the last possible moment to fill-up. But when bad weather is predicted I make sure the tank is full.

I do not keep an emergency kit on hand. But again, when bad weather is approaching I do make sure I have the basics in the house. This includes batteries, bottled water and non-perishable food. Canned goods are great in an emergency. But, they are no good if the power is out and you only have an electric can opener. Make sure you have a manual can opener.

Most organizations suggest you have food for three days. A lot of the food you have on hand can be used by both those who need to eat GF and those who do not. But, given the reality that after the storm you may have a hard time getting GF food, make sure you have plenty of GF options for the family members who need them.

Here are some ideas of foods to have on-hand in times of emergencies.

Canned meats
Beans
Tuna
Beef jerky
Peanut Butter
Canned fruit
Fruit
Powdered milk
GF Crackers
GF Cereal
GF Bars

We all hope that we will never need to use our emergency plans. But when an emergency strikes it is good to have something in place. It is also important that we do not forget to include GF provisions in our emergency planning.