First off, we want to let people that this blog post is not designed to give medical advice, but designed as an opinion piece. Please ensure that you always check with your doctor regarding your diet and potential allergies.

I find that nowadays that so many people are talking about gluten free foods, and how some people have felt much better after cutting out gluten from their diet. But we also discovered that there are a few people who also have allergies to corn. Whether you have gluten allergies, Celiac, or have corn allergies, it can be hard to find foods that can meet these dietary needs.

Living with a corn allergy isn’t as simple as cutting out the golden kernel of corn, or avoiding foods that blatantly have corn in it, like corn meal, in a North American diet, it can almost feel impossible to avoid food that has corn in it or has by product or corn.

Like many allergies, some people have severe reactions when they eat any type of corn product, while there are those that are sensitive to corn and may feel a bit ill but nothing life threatening. But for those that lean on the more extreme case they need to be very careful of what they consume. Every day foods or supplements can contain corn.

Here are some common items that may contain corn that people can be allergic to:

Absorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
Baking Powder
Caramel used to colour soft drinks
Decyl Glucoside (a product that’s common in some shampoos)
Dextrose (glucose) – corn sugar
Sorbitol, which is often found in sugar free foods
Chicken (those that are grain fed Corn for the majority of their diet).

This is just a short list of products that can contain corn. Waht can be difficult for people that are allergic to corn is to find any type of North American sweet or candy that doesn’t use corn product. When a person with corn allergies looks at can of Coke or Pepsi, they’re very likely to see “High Fructose Corn Syrup” on the ingredient list. Or when you find a candy in North America that says that it’s made with glucose then chances are that it’s made from corn starch. Imagine how tough it is to be a child, or even an adult to have corn allergies. Not being able to enjoy most candies and soft drinks.

While we know that these types of products may not be healthy in excess, we can all agree that having candy and sugared sweets in moderation is okay. I could never personally imagine my childhood without chocolate, lollipops and gummy bears. It’s a part of all our childhoods.

All Natural Corn Free Candy

I think for us it was a bit of shocker when we first discovered that people had corn allergies. We were just ignorant, and weren’t aware that people had such a food allergy. What can tricky is that glucose is the label for a type of “sugar” that can be derived from startch, tapioca, and potatoes. Since corn is abundant in the U.S., this is the reason why most of the glucose comes from corn.

But for us at Candy Meister, all our candies that do have glucose listed on them are not made from corn based product. Our all natural candies which are made in Germany, which has a different philosophy about corn (genetically modified corn is banned in Germany). Germany doesn’t rely on it for food production in sweets as much as North American candies. This is why our customer smile when we tell them we don’t use corn based products.

Sadly It’s hard to Get Corn Free Syrup Candy in North America

It’s interesting when I do a search for gluten free candies, there’s a lot of blogs that are dedicated to creating an extensive list of what’s out there and gluten free. But when it comes to finding a list for corn free candies, it’s difficult to find one. But here’s a blog post that’s dedicated to listing corn free products, and they do list some candies on there, but it’s less than a hand full.

What does Candy Meister Use For Their Glucose Then?

While we do use glucose, we’re happy to say that we actually use glucose that’s dervied from sugar beet. Sugar beets naturally contain a high concentration of sucrose. In 2009 sugar beets were responsible for 20% of the world’s sugar. Most of the world’s sugar beet production is concentrated in Europe and parts of Western Russia, while the U.S. is a large producer of sugar beet, it’s only grown in parts of Eastern U.S.

How come our candies use glucose made from sugar beet? Interestingly enough, Germany is 4th when it comes to sugar beet production. In 2011 it was reported that Germany produced over 25 million tonnes of sugar beet. So for Germans, there’s no real need to rely on use corn to produce glucose, hence why Germany is incredibly famous for making candies that are corn free.

As time goes on, I’m sure the awareness of corn allergies will increase, similar to the way that the gluten free movement has occurred. But until then we’re very proud to produce wonderful corn free candies like my the Vitamin C candy, or any herbal candy for that matter.

If you have someone special in your life, or if you have corn allergies, then make sure you place an order of our candy. We promise that you’ll love it!