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I often have a problem with candy, even 
OCCASIONALLY from manufacturers many people trust 
as being GF -- or from companies that fully 
disclose all gluten on their labels.  The end 
result is that I've gotten quite gun-shy.

For me, I think the problem might be mostly about 
cross-contamination, as I know that I am 
extremely sensitive to this.  With candies, this 
can be an even greater problem for me -- as I'm 
pretty sure that one of my most severe reactions 
is to malt (which is derived from barley) or 
barley, itself.  And I think candy companies 
often use both.  Neither of these are required to 
be disclosed on a label under the new law, though 
the really big candy companies such as Hershey's 
and Nestlé seem to be quite responsible about 
this.

This past Christmas, I *think* I had a mild 
reaction to a new type of Hershey's kisses 
(Cherry Cordials) -- but that has been my only 
bad experience with Hershey's.  And, even with 
that, I'm not 100% sure that it was these candies 
(though I am probably 80% sure, after eliminating 
other things).  There was no gluten listed on the 
label, but my fear was that it was a short-run, 
seasonal item and perhaps their manufacturing 
process wasn't as strictly constructed as the 
Kisses products the make all of the time.  I've 
thought about writing to Hershey's, in fact, 
encouraging them to look into it, because my c-c 
reactions frequently have turned out to be 
correct.  I've never had any problem with any 
Hershey's Kisses in the past.

BUT, that said ... the following is just personal 
opinion.  Brach's strikes me as the type of 
company that may only be listing wheat because 
they  have to.  And my greatest doubts are that 
they always disclose either barley or malt on 
their labels -- they are not required to do this, 
so I figure it is possible that they do not do 
it.  The other day, I stood in our local CVS and 
looked over the various candies from Brach's, and 
saw that SO MANY of them have glucose syrup that 
is derived from wheat (I do not think all glucose 
syrup comes from wheat, but Brach's does).  There 
were so many that had wheat on the label, that 
all the buzzers went off in my own head about 
cross-contamination.  I figure with that many 
products that do have wheat (and not knowing if 
they responsibly label other non-wheat glutens), 
that is NOT a candy for me to even hold in my 
hand! ;-)

I have an observation to make, though.  It seems 
to me that most of the candy manufacturers who 
have a HUGE base of children as customers are 
being very responsible about labeling.  Now, 
while Brach's makes a number of "kid" products, a 
lot of their products are not really so much 
kid-oriented, such as their bread-n-butter boxed 
chocolates.  And they do pretty much zero 
advertising to kids.  Godiva is another company 
that makes almost nothing they say is GF, and 
also do not go after the kid market.  I know 
there are others I've investigated that have 
disappointed me in their response about gluten -- 
but again, they make adult-oriented products, not 
mass-market products for children.  But Nestlé, 
Hershey's, M&M-Mars, etc., seem to generally have 
their acts together on this point.  I suspect, 
from a marketing point-of-view, they are perhaps 
seeing that so much celiac disease, autism and 
other diseases are being diagnosed in children 
who are being treated with a GF diet, that they 
cannot afford to lose their reputation among this 
base of customers.  As a grown-up, I figure I 
reap the rewards of their efforts! ;-)  [As an 
aside, I have also never had a reaction to a 
Kraft product that showed no gluten on its label 
-- though not primarily a candy manufacturer, I 
think they are one of these companies that 
realizes they must be responsible when it comes 
to KIDS.  When the label of a Kraft product does 
not say it contains gluten, my own experience has 
led me to trust that it does not, even from 
cross-contamination.]

Well, enough of my personal ideas about all of 
this.  Don't know most of the above for sure, in 
any of the above cases ... just based on my 
observations, personal experiences and my 
excessive love of chocolate.  It is known, now, 
that dark chocolate has many health benefits, and 
quite a lot of chocolate is GF.  If only they 
could remove the calories ... sigh.

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