Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sommer's Organic Beef

Sommer's Organic Beef has added two new additions to the list: Sommer's Organic NY Strips (plain frozen) and Sommer's Organic 2lb Prime Rib (fully cooked & seasoned).

Sommer's Organic confirmed the corn-free status of these two products (see post on Delphi) They also confirmed that their cows are grass-fed.

Sommer's Organic may have other items that are corn-free, however these two products are the only confirmed corn-free at this time.

These products have been seen in Super Target, Costco, and Wild Oats.

Planet Laundry Detergent - liquid only

A recent post on Delphi, relays Planet Inc's confirmation that their liquid Ultra Laundry detergent is corn-free.

Do make sure to only use the liquid, as the powdered version does contain corn starch. The two products are made in different facilities so cross-contamination is not an issue.

Swift Pork Tenderloin

In a recent thread about pork on Delphi, it seems there is one supply of pork that is corn-free.

The product is by Swift and is only their plain pork tenderloin. Seasoned contains corn.

These can be found in a couple stores (and may be more) such as Costco (two pack) and Albertsons.

Mucinex Reviews

For those who want to read up on others experiences with Mucinex and Mucinex D, please click the following link and read the thread.

Delphi Forums - Avoiding Corn - Mucinex D

Mucinex and Mucinex D so far seem to do a very good job with no corn reactions. We can only hope that it stays that way.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Daddy Sam's BBQ Sawce

Daddy Sam's has been a staple BBQ sauce for many of us over the years as 99.9% of all BBQ sauces contain corn.

Unfortunately, a recent change in ingredients (addition of dextrose) has caused Daddy Sam's to be removed from our list.

This removal is supposed to be temporary (see post on Delphi) as Daddy Sam's is looking for a new supplier for the sweetener which currently is being derived from corn.

Hopefully they will find a non-corn source soon.

**** Update 5/4/07 - It seems Daddy Sam's has changed their recipe back. Do make sure to check the labels before purchasing to make certain. (See also posts on this at Delphi-Avoiding Corn)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

St. Dalfour Jams

In my last post of the list, I added a warning to the St. Dalfour Jams listing about reactions and the possibility of corn in the pectin. This disclaimer was added as there have been several reactions posted about this product.

This product is being removed from the list, due to those reactions as well as my own.

It is probably safe for those who can handle minor derivatives or small amounts of corn.

Lundberg Rice Cakes - update

A recent inquiry into Lundberg rice cakes, gives new information.

A previous inquiry gave preference to one Lundberg rice cake as corn-free.

This newer inquiry states that all Lundberg rice cakes should be corn-free, but Lundberg also processes corn cakes on the same equipment.

Given this new information, and the reports of reactions to Lundberg rice cakes, do use caution when trialing the rice cakes. The best success has been with their unsalted plain rice cakes.

If you do have a problem with these rice cakes, do let us know which type you tried and your experiences.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Annie's Naturals Ketchup - removed

Annie's Naturals has been reformulating their ketchup it seems, so make sure to read your labels.

A company response from Annie's Naturals as posted on Delphi, states that: "The bottles of Organic Ketchup that say "distilled white vinegar from apples" contain distilled white vinegar from apples. The bottles of Organic Ketchup that simply list "distilled white vinegar" contain distilled white vinegar from either corn or beets depending on availability."

A later post, states that the apple vinegar seems to be on its way out, and the corn vinegar seems to be the newer products.

On this note, Annie's Naturals Ketchup will be removed from any future lists until the company changes the recipe back to apple vinegar completely.

Triaminic - Children's Nighttime Cold & Cough

Triaminic - Children's Nighttime Cold & Cough was on our list for quite a while and needed to be re-verified anyway. However, it seems that the product has been reformulated, and there has been new company confirmation (Delphi) that the product does contain corn.

The product will no longer appear on the corn-free list.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Corn-Free Shopping Online Reviews

The following is a list of sites where you may be able to purchase items from the Corn-Free lists or where you may be able to find other corn-free options. This list also includes sites which promote corn-free shopping, but do not necessarily deliver. Those particular sites are posted here to caution you from blindly trusting online sites, and to point out where you might have problems.

This list is not 100% complete as you may be able to find other online sources for Corn-Free products, if you do know of another source that should be listed here, do email us with your experience.

As always do use caution when buying any product, as manufacturers may change ingredients without notice.

Sites are intended to be listed from the most helpful to the least helpful, but since that is subjective, you may or may not agree with me. :)

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AllergyGrocer.com --- was safe, then closed, and now has reopened. It looks like they are now no longer good for corn-free items like they used to be in the past. Do make sure you read labels and verify ingredient sources. I would not trust their corn-free search to be accurate.

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Amazon.com occasionally carries items from the corn-free list. They're usually reasonably priced (sometimes cheaper than Allergygrocer.com); however, do make sure you read labels and make certain that it is the actual corn-free product rather than a similar version which may contain corn. You also need to watch whether it is shipped from Amazon or from another company. Shipping from other companies increases your shipping costs and can make the overall price much more expensive.

Also Amazon will occasionally have sales or specials on corn-free items, these sales are rare but sometimes provide real savings on foods which we rarely receive discounts. Read the fine print when you sign up, and check the box for the monthly special offers from Amazon, these will often alert you if there are any specials on products you might use (aka corn-free items). Amazon also has "Email Subscriptions" to which you can subscribe in order to receive information on their special offers in that category. Below I've listed the two categories which might be the most beneficial.
Amazon Gourmet Foods Specials - Signup Monthly Newsletter
Amazon Deals - Daily Deals - Signup Daily Newsletter

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Bison Ridge Ranch is an online provider of corn-free Bison meats. Their plain meats are corn-free, though their lunchmeats, sausages, flavored, and un-perishable meats have not been verified corn-free yet. The Bison is grass-fed, and has a very slight game taste though you may not notice it if you normally spice or use flavorful sauces on your meats. It is a very very lean meat, so much so that you often have to add oil to the pan to keep it from sticking. It is actually leaner than chicken or turkey, even though this is a red meat.

The meat is frozen and overnighted to your doorstep (see their shipping guidelines). Shipping is a limited $19.99 within the 48 contiguous states, no matter how much you order at a time making larger orders much more economical.

They also sell gift certificates for you to put on your gift wish list. :)

FYI: The meat/steaks can be rather tough. The meat is also very filling, probably because there is little fat or water melting out of the meat. The 1/4 lb burgers may seem small, but you definitely don't need more than that as nothing cooks out of the meat. I would equate a 1/4 lb bison burger to about 1/3-1/2lb regular beef burger. The cube steak can have some tough strains in it, so make sure to cut your bites small. Their short ribs are heavenly though. I cut them into individual pieces/bones, browned them, then boiled them for 2 hours. They were extremely tender, very lean for rib meat, and delicious. These btw are the only cuts of meats from them that I have tried so far.

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Eden Foods Online Store carries nearly every Eden Foods product imaginable. While many Eden products can be found locally in most places (usually metropolitan areas or health food grocery stores), there are many more Eden products that you'll never see locally but might be beneficial to expanding a limited diet, such as their pastas from various grains.

Eden Foods is a good reliable company known for its good labeling practices and allergy-friendly customer service. Many of their products are on our safe list, and many more probably should be.

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Kosher Meat Products Online: Only Plain meats will be corn-free. Seasoned and ground meats, including burgers, may contain flavoring extracts derived from corn, or seasonings with other corn derivatives. Most people have found these products locally, so I am unsure of the ordering process, shipping costs, etc. You may also want to contact your local Jewish community to see what grocery stores cater to Kosher foods, as you may be able to get these locally for cheaper, or you may get a local Kosher store to start ordering them for you.

Aaron's Kosher Organic
Aaron's Kosher Home - Non-Organic

Empire Kosher Direct

Dr. Praeger's Online Store: Dr. Praeger's Potato Crusted Fish Sticks are on the safe list, and can be found on their online site under Gluten-Free Products. Dr. Praeger's Potato Crusted Fishies (fun fish shaped fish-sticks) are also safe. They also seem to make a potato crusted Fish Fillet, which carries the same ingredients as the other two potato crusted items, so I would assume that it is safe as well. There are a couple other items on Dr. Praeger's site that may be corn-free, but I don't have any info if they've been tried or if there are cross-contamination issues. If you know if any other Dr. Praeger products are corn-free, do let us know.

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DrugStore.com is another place to find corn-free products, but only if you know what you are seeking. Prices are fairly reasonable, and sometimes you can get a good deal on a sale.

Unlike some sites, DrugStore.com does tend to list all ingredients of a product as well as other label information on the site so you can see exactly what you’re purchasing.

Products you can usually find at DrugStore.com include: GNC Fish Oil, Shikai shampoo/conditioner, Badger Balms, Sliquid Silver, and various other items.

DrugStore.com also offers "DrugStore Dollars" in which a percentage of your purchase total turns into $’s off your next purchase. They also often add gift items to your purchase if you purchase certain items or made purchases of a certain dollar amount. These items are not usually corn-free, but they do make good gifts for non-allergy friends/family. Drugstore.com also saves a list of your previous purchases that you can peruse when you sign on and easily see if they’re on sale.

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Special Foods.com is another source of corn-free products. They are very food allergy/intolerant friendly and are very careful to only to use very minimal ingredients. Though do be careful as their products are extremely pricey. I am also not aware of anyone that has actually purchased anything from there.

Special Foods.com Products and Price List

If anyone has tried these products, do let us know of your experiences.

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Rite Care Pharmacy Online is a reliable source of Phytopharmica vitamins at bargain prices. If you’re looking into Phytopharmica vitamins, this is the place to shop. Rite Care’s site does not list the ingredients of each product though, so you may want to peruse the products on Phytopharmica’s website before purchasing at Rite Care.

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Gluten Solutions.com might be helpful for those seeking gluten-free foods as well as corn-free foods, as this store will have more of a variety of gluten-free options than some other online sites.

This site does have a handy allergy search engine, but it is not 100% effective as they do not seem to consider xanthan gum, extracts, natural flavors, or other refined corn derivatives as corn. So do make sure to read the ingredients very very carefully before purchasing, as well as check the Corn & Gluten-Free list.

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ShopCornFree.com boasts corn-free shopping but it doesn't necessarily deliver. While some products are corn-free, others might be corn-free, some products definately aren't corn-free. When shopping at this site, please consider any product not on the Corn-Free lists to contain corn, or to be severely risky. They do not seem to consider enzymes from corn, xanthan gum, extracts, natural flavors, or other refined corn derivatives as corn.

For those new to avoiding corn, I would just avoid ShopCornFree.com completely. Actually I would recommend avoiding this site completely for everyone, as there are other sites available to get most of these products.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Bicillin Antibiotic

Our medication lists are probably the most scary part of our list as manufacturers there seem to change more often, ingredients change often, and we need them when we're sick which is the least desirable time to have a reaction.

Bicillin was added to our list in March, but I thought I'd post a link to the thread on how it got on our list with a mother's review of what happened with the shots, so that you can make more educated decisions.

Mother's Review of Bicillin

Redwood Hill Farms - Goat Yogurt

Redwood Hill Farms Goat Yogurt looked like a promising addition to our list; however, one of the Delpi Members guinea-pigged this yogurt for us and had bad results.

We definately would not recommend this product for anyone with a corn allergy.

Roundy's Strawberries

As an FYI, this product has been tested and is not corn-free.

Door Country Frozen Blueberries

As an FYI, this product has been tested and is not corn-free.