Surf Sweets safety review
Salt Lake City, Utah · Part of Sweet Candy Company
Our verdict
RecommendedSurf Sweets earns a recommended grade on one ground: an organic certificate we could read on the USDA's own register, plus a record search that found nothing. The USDA's Organic Integrity Database lists Sweet Candy Company of Salt Lake City, the company named on the back of the Surf Sweets pack, as a certified organic handler under Quality Assurance International, and that certificate's product list includes "Gummy Worms" and "Gummy Bears". The register names those products without the Surf Sweets brand name, so what it shows is that the maker holds the certificate and that gummy worms are on it, not that it names this pack. The worms are sold as made with 70% organic ingredients, a category that does not carry the USDA Organic seal. An organic certificate is a farming-and-processing standard: it does not allow synthetic dyes, and it is not a contaminant test. The 2.75 oz worms are also on the Gluten-Free Certification Organization's list, under UPC 891475001025, the same UPC as the Amazon pack we link; that is a single-attribute certification and says nothing about dyes. What the dye claim itself rests on is the ingredient panel. Read on the maker's own page and pack image on 2026-10-12, the Gummy Worms are colored with organic carrot, blackcurrant and blueberry concentrates plus annatto and turmeric extracts, and no FD&C color appears. The "made without the 9 major allergens" line on the pack is the company's own statement; we found no third-party audit behind it. We found no recall under Surf Sweets, TruSweets, Sweet Candy Company or Wholesome Sweeteners in openFDA or CPSC, no California Proposition 65 notice naming the brand or its current owner, and no product-safety or labeling case against them on a federal docket, as of 2026-10-12.
- Best for
- A dyed-gummy-worm swap for a household where gluten-free has to be certified rather than asserted — the 2.75 oz worms are on GFCO's own list.
- Skip if
- You need a vegetarian or vegan candy — the Gummy Worms are made with gelatin.
Reviewed by Dan Golden · October 2026
Company facts
- What they make
- candy, food dyes
- Where it's made
- Surf Sweets is now a brand of Sweet Candy Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, a candy maker founded in 1892 that describes itself as still family-owned and operated, with the third, fourth and fifth generations of the family in the business. The brand has changed hands twice that we can document. It belonged to TruSweets of Wheeling, Illinois; Wholesome Sweeteners, Inc. bought TruSweets in a deal finalized on November 23, 2015; and on June 2, 2021 the brand's own blog announced that "the Surf Sweets brand has joined Sweet Candy Company." The current pack carries the Sweet's logo on the front and "Sweet Candy Company, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104" on the back, and surfsweets.com now redirects to sweetcandy.com. Neither the pack nor the product page says which plant makes the gummies, and SafeMama has not verified that.
The company behind Sweet Candy Company (Surf Sweets)
- Founded
- 1892
- Headquarters
- Salt Lake City, Utah (3780 West Directors Row, Salt Lake City, UT 84104)
- Ownership
- Independent
No outside owner who can reset the standards.
Safety breakdown
We found no FDA enforcement record with Surf Sweets, SurfSweets, TruSweets, Sweet Candy Company or Wholesome Sweeteners as the recalling firm, and none naming Surf Sweets in a product description, in openFDA food and drug enforcement as of 2026-10-12. CPSC returned nothing for Surf Sweets or Sweet Candy. We found no 60-day notice naming Surf Sweets, TruSweets or Sweet Candy Company on the California Attorney General's Proposition 65 register as of the same date. Two records that a search turns up are not this brand's: notice 2013-00802 names "Sweet Candy, LLC" of Orange, California, an unrelated company, over licorice, and notices 2017-00159 and 2018-01672 name Wholesome Sweeteners, Inc., which owned Surf Sweets at the time, over molasses, a different product line under a former owner. Proposition 65 is a warning-label statute: a notice alleges a missing warning, not that a product was found unsafe. Certifications, each read on the certifier's own register on 2026-10-12. USDA Organic: the Organic Integrity Database lists Sweet Candy Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, as a certified handler under Quality Assurance International, with "Gummy Worms", "Gummy Bears" and "Sweet's Organic Fruit Snacks" on its product list; the products are listed without the Surf Sweets brand name. Gluten-free: GFCO's product finder lists Surf Sweets products including "Gummy Worms 2.75 oz" (UPC 891475001025). Non-GMO: the Non-GMO Project lists four Surf Sweets products (Cinnamon Organic Bears, Organic Cubby Bears, Organic Delish Fish and Organic Sour Fruity Rings) and not the Gummy Worms. The pack also carries the 1% for the Planet logo, which marks an environmental-giving membership, not a safety certification. We found no product-safety or labeling case naming Surf Sweets, TruSweets or Sweet Candy Company on CourtListener as of 2026-10-12. The two recent federal dockets that name Sweet Candy Company are Americans with Disabilities Act suits, both closed: Williams v. Sweet Candy Company (S.D.N.Y. 1:21-cv-02206, filed 2021-03-12, closed 2021-07-09) and Bennett v. Sweet Candy Company (N.D. Ill. 1:26-cv-03391, filed 2026-03-27, closed 2026-07-23). Neither is a product matter.
Surf Sweets on SafeMama
1 product reviewed · 2 lists · 0 SafeMama Picks
- 1
- products reviewed
- 0
- SafeMama Picks
- 0
- we'd skip
- 2
- best-of lists
We found no FDA enforcement record with Surf Sweets, SurfSweets, TruSweets, Sweet Candy Company or Wholesome Sweeteners as the recalling firm, and none naming Surf Sweets in a product description, in openFDA food and drug enforcement as of 2026-10-12. CPSC returned nothing for Surf Sweets or Sweet Candy. We found no 60-day notice naming Surf Sweets, TruSweets or Sweet Candy Company on the California Attorney General's Proposition 65 register as of the same date. Two records that a search turns up are not this brand's: notice 2013-00802 names "Sweet Candy, LLC" of Orange, California, an unrelated company, over licorice, and notices 2017-00159 and 2018-01672 name Wholesome Sweeteners, Inc., which owned Surf Sweets at the time, over molasses, a different product line under a former owner. Proposition 65 is a warning-label statute: a notice alleges a missing warning, not that a product was found unsafe. Certifications, each read on the certifier's own register on 2026-10-12. USDA Organic: the Organic Integrity Database lists Sweet Candy Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, as a certified handler under Quality Assurance International, with "Gummy Worms", "Gummy Bears" and "Sweet's Organic Fruit Snacks" on its product list; the products are listed without the Surf Sweets brand name. Gluten-free: GFCO's product finder lists Surf Sweets products including "Gummy Worms 2.75 oz" (UPC 891475001025). Non-GMO: the Non-GMO Project lists four Surf Sweets products (Cinnamon Organic Bears, Organic Cubby Bears, Organic Delish Fish and Organic Sour Fruity Rings) and not the Gummy Worms. The pack also carries the 1% for the Planet logo, which marks an environmental-giving membership, not a safety certification. We found no product-safety or labeling case naming Surf Sweets, TruSweets or Sweet Candy Company on CourtListener as of 2026-10-12. The two recent federal dockets that name Sweet Candy Company are Americans with Disabilities Act suits, both closed: Williams v. Sweet Candy Company (S.D.N.Y. 1:21-cv-02206, filed 2021-03-12, closed 2021-07-09) and Bennett v. Sweet Candy Company (N.D. Ill. 1:26-cv-03391, filed 2026-03-27, closed 2026-07-23). Neither is a product matter.
A brand tier is a summary, never a verdict — always read the product page. How tiers are calculated
Where this brand appears
- ListedThe Red Dye 3 cheat sheetSurf Sweets Gummy Worms Candy, Allergy Friendly - 2.75 Oz Bags (Pack of 12) | Gluten Free Snacks, Gummies Made with Organic Cane Sugar and Fruit Juice Concentrate, Soft and Chewy Candies · updated Nov 2026
- ListedCandy without Red Dye 40Surf Sweets Gummy Worms Candy, Allergy Friendly - 2.75 Oz Bags (Pack of 12) | Gluten Free Snacks, Gummies Made with Organic Cane Sugar and Fruit Juice Concentrate, Soft and Chewy Candies · updated Nov 2026
Surf Sweets products we track
- No Red Dye 40
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Red Dye 40, Artificial Dyes, Yellow 5 & 6
Ingredient panel checked · source
Recall history
No recalls found. We checked CPSC and FDA recall databases as of October 14, 2026 and found no recalls for this brand. Recall databases update continuously — if you own a recalled product, the official notice is always the source to follow.