Jelly Belly Candy Co., Fairfield, Calif., has launched organic jelly beans and fruit snacks, which could be the first of many new opportunities from the company. The organic products were introduced in January at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.
The organic jelly beans will be available in 10 assorted flavors of Apple, Berry, Blueberry, Cherry, Coconut, Lemon, Orange, Peach, Pear and Strawberry. The five sour flavor varieties include Apple, Cherry, Lemon, Orange and Berry.
The new Organic Fruit Flavored Snacks are available in bags with a mix of six favorite fruit flavors: Strawberry, Berry, Lemon, Apple, Orange and Cherry. The six individual serving size bags feature a variety of mixes suitable for lunchboxes, travel and snacking. All ingredients in these organic lines are USDA-certified organic, the company says, and made with non-genetically modified organism (GMO) ingredients and flavors and colors from natural sources. This is the company's first organic line.
Development began about eight months ago. There are differences between the organic and conventional Jelly Belly jelly beans, which include the colors for one. The organic beans aren't as vivid as their conventional counterparts. But product formulation wasn't the greatest challenge the company faced during development: it was getting the production facility certified organic.
Jelly Belly says it also invested in new equipment that will process the organic fruit-flavored snack line.
"Consumers are interested in a wide variety of organic food products," explains Rob Swaigen, vice president of global marketing at Jelly Belly. "The organic category has steadily grown for the last decade, and we are excited to meet this growing demand with organic, gourmet confections and snacks."
