products with or without sulfites

Page last updated: April 26 2021

Unfortunately for sulfite-intolerant people, sulfite only appear on the list of ingredients if above a specific level. As a result, to be on the safe side, I occasionally contact companies regarding their products. My mails basically go like this :

Dear sir / madam;

I need to know if you use sulfites as agents at any point in time when processing your (name of product).

Thank you for your time and attention. This question is crucial in our household, as my husband is allergic to sulfites, with a tolerance less than the accepted level in conventional food processing.

Sincerely

Please note that I have only contacted American-based companies, as our travels rarely take us to places outside of France or the U.S. Of course, if ever you have done the same with other companies, I would love to hear about it in the comment section of this page, and with your permission post it also. Below is a recap of the answers I have received over the past few years, listed alphabetically. I chose red to indicate the presence of sulfites, green the absence thereof, and black when the answer did not completely convince me.

brand	product	date	answer (see line below)
ANTHONY’S GOODS	cassava flour	March 2021	NO ANSWER in spite of several emails sent to their customer service. My husband seems ok with it, but alas in absence of their confirmation I cannot guarantee that it is sulfite-free.
ARROWHEAD MILLS	tapioca starch / flour	04/25/2021	In response to your inquiry, Arrowhead Mills™ Organic Tapioca Flour  has no added sulfites.
BOB’S RED MILL	starches	10/25/2018
Potato Starch does have sulfites used in the processing, but it’s not added to the final product and residual amounts would be less than 10 ppm. None of our other starches have sulfites used in the production process, though they may contain naturally occurring sulfites.” Note that their very first answer here below, dated 07/24/2014, was different. This means things are progressing ! Our supplier for Cornstarch, Tapioca Flour/Starch, and Potato Starch all use sulfites in the production of these products. Despite this, the finished products are tested by our supplier to be under 10 ppm and can therefore be declared sulfite free. We would prefer to describe all of our products as having no added sulfites since many different food sources contain naturally occurring sulfites and we do not test for these. According to the US Federal Government 10 parts per million is the maximum amount of sulfites any product can contain and still be declared sulfite free. All we can guarantee is a level of 10 PPM or less.
ENER-G	starches	12/04/2018	NO ANSWER even though I sent them several emails
FRONTIER	spices	07/29/2014
We provide full product disclosure on all of our products.  To find full product disclosure on any of our products, simply click on product description, and it will bring up another information window. In the pop up window, it has ingredients and any other information we have on the product, including origins of the product. If there is sulfites added it would specifically label it as such.  There are sulfites in a few of our products, and they could potentially be run on the same equipment as those that do not contain sulfites, however we follow strict GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) to minimize the potential for cross-contamination.
JUDEE’S GLUTEN FREE	potato starch	12/15/2019
We use a potato starch that has been identified by the NON gmo project as Non gmo.  Also, it is most likely that sulfer dioxide is  used in the drying process as that is most common.
LESAFFRE	nutritional yeast	08/10/2016
Our nutritional yeast is gluten free. (note : my question to them was about gluten AND sulfites!)
OTTO’S NATURALS	cassava flour	01/09/19
I am happy to report that nothing but water is used in our process.
SHILOH FARMS	potato starch and cornstarch	12/20/2019
You will be pleased to know that Shiloh Farms does not carry any items that contain sulfites or any other kind of artificial preservatives in the their products. We also do carry any item that contains any artificial color or flavoring.
STOP & SHOP (Nature’s Promise brand)	frozen shrimp	01/26/2017
I understand you are concerned with sulphites being in the facility that manufactures the Nature’s Promise frozen shrimps. I am pleased to inform you that the shrimps are processed in a facility free of sulphites. Therefore, it is safe for you to eat the Nature’s Promise frozen shrimp.