Here is the response I received from Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. (I posted it on another thread where members mentioned this product).
Dear Connie:
We use peanut-based ingredients in our Peanut Butter flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans. It's one of our most popular flavors.
We know peanut allergies are a serious problem for some people who have to watch what they eat, so we clearly list Peanut Butter and Peanut Flour in our ingredient statements that can be found on the packages or bulk bin labels. We sell this flavor in bulk in our 20 Assorted Flavors mix and in
our 39 Assorted Flavors mix.
None of the other flavors contain peanuts (or any other nuts) as an ingredient.
We feel it is important that you be aware that we produce all our Jelly Belly flavors on the same equipment. This means that it is possible for peanut oils or other peanut products to be transferred to any of our other candies. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that all flavors are 100% free of
peanut products. To be safe, we regret that we must recommend that you avoid all of our products.
Hope this is helpful.
Sweet Regards,
Mr. Jelly Belly
Chairman of the Bean
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I appreciate their honesty in their reply and I feel this is not a "CYA" statement since they do use shared equipment.
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Stay Safe.
[This message has been edited by Connie (edited January 15, 2001).]
I live just a few miles from the Jelly Belly factory, which is really not very large compared to others I have visited like Hershey's. One day we took the tour, and I got ill from the peanut butter smell which was coming up from the manufacturing plant. They absolutely DO use the same equipment for all candies. I must say that they are awfully nice there, and I explained the problems with peanuts. After seeing the equipment and the scope of their operation, I can see that it would not be economically feasible for them to have a dedicated peanut free area. People rave about their peanut butter jelly beans, and it is a big selling item. To tell the truth, I think their candy is not that great.
Just as an aside, they are the corporate sponsor for the Fairfield, CA High School band. Those kids have wonderful uniforms and even got to go to the Rose Parade in 2000. Each as a JB patch on the uniform.
I like their corporate policies so much, but I wish they would get rid of the peanut butter. Not a chance though.
WoozerMom
WoozerMom