Why is your new formula sold out on your website?
Our website is our innovation hub. The first place to come to for early batches of new innovations and formula evolutions. However, they don’t last long because we don’t stand still! As a small start up we can respond quickly to tribe feedback and we are back in the kitchen refining and perfecting our new formula based on early feedback. We expect the final new recipe will be ready to go in the fall! In the meantime, our original formula that you know and love is available at major retailers and on Amazon.
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Why is it so important to you that SmartSweets is free from sugar alcohols?
Sugar alcohols are often used in the food industry (but not by us) to push down the net carb count. We think that this comes at way too high a cost to our bodies. We want SmartSweets to be friendly to our tummies so we will always be sugar alcohol free.
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Why have you developed your own testing method?
We discovered that standard nutritional tests actually leave out a sugar molecule. We want you guys to know about this so our nutritional stats include all the required testing PLUS an extra sugar molecule others don’t capture.
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Are your recipes now free from carrageenan?
You bet. We learnt that this was important to our tribe so removed the carrageenan from our new recipe.
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Will you stick with your new recipes or continue to change?
Innovation is in our DNA! We are committed to using the latest and greatest ingredients in our recipes and will continue to evolve with new candies and tweaks to existing formulations over time.
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Who regulates your products?
SmartSweets products are regulated by the FDA in the US and Health Canada and CFIA in Canada. These agencies regulate the classification and labeling of ingredients, among many other things.
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What is Carnauba Wax?
Great question! Carnauba Wax is a natural renewable resource used as a coating for our gummy bears. It is grown in Brazil and is harvested from the leaves of the carnauba palm. The wax is harvested using traditional procedures that doesn't damage the trees. Fun fact: the use of carnauba wax creates an economic incentive to keep the trees standing.
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Once opened, how long do SmartSweets last?
We proudly have no preservatives or additives in SmartSweets. Because our products are made with natural ingredients with no preservatives or additives, once opened SmartSweets will begin to harden if left exposed to air. When sealed, SmartSweets are shelf-stable for 1 year.
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Are SmartSweets plant-based?
Our Fruity and Sour Gummy Bears both contain gelatin, but with our plant-based products, we decided to kick gelatin too! Creating the first ever 100% plant based #KickSugar candy- Sweet Fish, Sour Blast Buddies & Peach Rings!
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Are SmartSweets kosher?
Our Fruity Gummy Bears and Sour Gummy Bears both contain pork based gelatin, and our Sweet Fish, Sour Blast Buddies & Peach Rings are gelatin free (pork free) but not kosher certified.
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Has the portion size changed?
Heck no! There’s no way we are messing with portion size! Portion size is often used artfully in the food industry so that the labels are as appealing as possible.
Ever noticed that the packages get suspiciously smaller over time? Or that a serving is a teeny portion of what is inside? All so the label “looks” good. Well, that’s not happening on our watch.
No games, no guilt and no mental math. The portion size is the pouch - period. One bag, one serving.
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How are you innovating your recipes?
We want to disrupt the candy aisle and offer a radically better alternative to traditional candy. We also want to remove the sugar in a category comprised of 97% sugar! When you have goals this big and bold, it requires a lot of innovation. Innovation requires testing, experimenting and lots of iterations - we just don’t stop! It’s in our DNA! Because of this flurry of innovation, we have innovations and some different formulations of the same recipe on shelf at the same time.
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Why do you have a variety of recipes for your candy?
As a result of a flurry of innovation we currently have a few different formulations on shelf. Production of our new recipe is ramping up and we are working to get the latest product on shelves as quickly as possible. We are constantly innovating to determine the best combination of ingredients to create a delicious, low sugar candy that is also tolerable on our tummies! We are also watching the latest ingredient developments so we can seize on opportunities to apply the latest advances in food science to our recipes. For example, in some of our U.S recipes we are using Allulose, a zero GI sweetener found in nature in raisins and figs, we are also evolving our recipes to reflect the latest thinking with respect to different types of fiber and, of course, YOUR feedback on texture and tolerability.
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How do your recipes differ?
There are a few subtle differences between our recipes that primarily relate to the type of fiber we use, or whether or not the recipe contains a new type of non-artificial sweetener, allulose, but overall our recipes have far more things in common than set them apart. All of them are a radically better alternative to traditional candy and adhere to our pinky promise.
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How do I know which recipe I am buying or eating?
Ingredients are clearly labelled on all SmartSweets pouches and you can drop us a line if you have any specific questions at hello@smartsweets. As an easy point of reference our 3.0 recipe has "Kick Sugar Keep Candy" in the top left corner on the front of the bag.
Of course, all of our candy aligns with our pinky promise so you have peace of mind that you are eating a radically better alternative to traditional candy.
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Why do nutritional stats differ on the same candy?
We’ve evolved our recipe to use a different combination of fibers and this has impacted the nutritional stats. For a short period there will be a few different iterations of our innovation on shelf but we expect to have moved over fully to our new recipe by the summer. All SmartSweets - regardless of the recipe - fall below 5 grams of sugar and deliver a healthy amount of fiber making SmartSweets a radically better alternative to traditional candy - not to mention one bag is the whole serving!
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Why is offering plant based options so important to you?
The simple answer is that we know this is important to our tribe and we want to extend the benefits of a radically better alternative to traditional candy to those following plant based diets, who until now have been extremely limited in the candy they can enjoy.
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Do I need to be careful about how many pouches I consume because of the high amounts of fiber?
Unlike traditional candy where fiber is nowhere to be seen, our plant based SmartSweets represent approximately 85 - 89% of daily recommended fiber intake and our gummy bears around 39%. Fiber offers so many benefits but for some of us our digestive systems are particularly sensitive to consuming high quantities of fiber at one sitting. There can be too much of a good thing when it comes to fiber! Word to the wise -- If you are looking to increase your fiber — go slow! it’s advised to do so gradually over the course of a few weeks to allow your system to adjust without side effects.
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Are SmartSweets Keto friendly?
While we don’t innovate for any specific diet, we know & love that Keto folks are part of our tribe. In SmartSweets 3.0 we’ve changed the combination of fibers to reflect Keto needs and feedback. We’ve also been mindful to use low GI ingredients while using quality ingredients, 87-92% less sugar than traditional candy, no sugar alcohols and not sneakily messing with package size. portion remains is the entire packet (I mean, technically you don’t have to eat it all at once ... but that’s between you and your SmartSweets!). Even though net carbs will be slightly higher in SmartSweets 3.0, we are hearing feedback that the overall impact on the body in SmartSweets 3.0 is our best yet. We can’t wait to hear how it works for you.
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Why aren’t Sweet Chews available in Canada?
We are committed to relentlessly researching, testing, and choosing the most advanced, natural ingredients to create delicious candy you know and love while kicking as many grams of sugar per bag as possible. As we've been innovating in our Candyland kitchen, we learned that allulose, a natural sweetener that is found in foods like raisins and figs, is a critical ingredient to allow us to expand beyond gummy-based innovations. (Allulose tastes like sugar, but doesn't act like sugar in your body. Since allulose isn't absorbed by the body, you subtract it, along with fiber to find the net carbs per bag). Allulose has been so important in innovating beyond gummy because it crystallizes, much like sugar does, so it opens up the possibilities of what we can create while keeping our pinky promise of being free from added sugars, sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately allulose isn't approved for use in Canada just yet. This isn’t unusual- Canada typically takes longer than the U.S to approve new ingredients but we hope it will catch up soon! But don't worry Canada - we have new innovation planned for you this year! Thank you so much for your continued support.
