Tootsie Roll Not OK

Update (2010-02-09) : Tootsie Roll Halal Again

This is one of those rare occassion that I have first hand answer to my question from the company. I updated the wikipedia entry for Tootsie Roll too. They use whey that comes from Pig. Please read the detailed list of products with animal content below.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: sandrews
Date: Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: Request for info from tootsie.com
To: aliabbasrizvi@xxxx.com

Here is the information you requested regarding animal based
ingredients in our products.

NO BEEF OR PORK

Charms Zip’s
Charms Sour Pops
Charms Sweet pops
Charms Sweet & Sour Pops
Charms Squares
Charms Sour Balls
Andes Chocolate Covered mint patties
Andes
Cotton Candy
Mason Dots
Tropical Dots
Crows
Wild Berry Dots
Charleston Chews
Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries

BEEF

Charms Blow Pops

PORK

Sugar Daddy
Sugar Babies
Tootsie Roll
Frooties
Flavor Roll
Tootsie Pops
Caramel Apple Pops
Junior Mints
Fruit Smoothie

Red 40 – is FD&C Red 40, produced from chemicals via chemical reactions.
Hope this helps.

On Sat, 10 Dec 2005 15:28:58 -0500, aliabbasrizvi wrote
> Name………………. Ali Rizvi
> Title………………
> Organization………..
> Address……………. ———————
> City………………. ———–
> State……………… WA
> Zip……………….. 98—
> Phone………………
> Fax………………..
> Email……………… @gmail.com
> Questions/Comments….. Hi there,
>
> I am a fan of tootsie roll and other products made by your company.
>
> Being a muslim I don’t consume any animal products as a matter of faith
and only consume halal and zabiha meat.
>
> A friend brought to my attention that Tootsie rolls have products derived
from animals (some of them like Milk is fine) so I wanted to know verify
directly from the source if this is the case.
>
> Please let me know as soon as possible of any and all ingredients that are
derived from animal sources in your products so that I can enjoy my favorite
dessert and clear the confusion with all my friends.
>
> Thanks
> Ali

Wrigleys Haraam Products List

Salaam Alaikum,

Some of the products are well known to contain gelatin but products like creme savers surprised me. The only reason I see cremesavers are on this list is because they are created on the same line as Lifesavers Gummies which contain gelatin.

If I understand correctly not all lifesavers are not OK except Lifesavers gummies and fusion but I am sure precaution can be better.

Fi AmaaniLLah
Ali

From: Siddiqui, Yousuf (Al Khobar)
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 5:46 PM
Subject: From Wrigleys Company USA
– Hide quoted text –

Dear Mr. Akbar,
Thank you for contacting us about animal ingredients and our products. To answer to your question, the vast majority of Wrigley products sold in the U.S. are free from ingredients of animal origin, including egg and dairy products. At present, the only chewing gum exceptions are Extra® Polar Ice stick gum and Juicy Fruit® pellet gums. Extra® Polar Ice gum and Orbit® Crystal Mint contain tiny flavor beads encased in a microscopic layer of gelatin, which is animal based. We have requested the development of a gelatin-free flavor bead that is currently being worked on by our supplier.

Juicy Fruit Grapermelon and Strappleberry gums use
shellac as a coating agent. The different varieties of our ALTOIDS mints do contain very small quantities of gelatin which is derived from pork. Gelatin does not impart any flavor to ALTOIDS, but it’s a necessary ingredient for the texture of the mint. When we use gelatin it is thoroughly purified and dried during its manufacturing process. Our staff is continually looking at alternatives to animal gelatin, but at the moment we’ve not been able to find a substitute that produces the same quality you’ve come to love with ALTOIDS.
Our LifeSaver gummies do contain small quantities of gelatin, which is also derived from pork. It follows the same drying and purifying process as with the
Altoids. If your diet does not allow you to consume animal byproducts such as dairy, our CremeSaver line does contain cream, which is a dairy byproduct. On the same note, our LifeSaver Fusions and LifeSaver gummies are produced on the same line as our
CremeSavers, so there is a chance of cross contamination. Our CremeSaver soft chews also contain a small amount of gelatin, which is pork based. We hope this information has been helpful and thanks again for contacting the Wrigley Company.
Sincerely,
Ryné King
Consumer Affairs Representative
============================================

Therefore according to the info above the following products of theirs are Haram:

Extra® Polar Ice
stick gum and Juicy Fruit® pellet gums.
Extra® Polar Ice gum and Orbit® Crystal Mint
Juicy Fruit Grapermelon and Strappleberry gums
ALTOIDS mints
Our LifeSaver gummies
CremeSaver
LifeSaver Fusions and LifeSaver

The remaining are halal