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Torie & Howard safety review
Founded 2012 · La Porte, Indiana (American Licorice Company — the brand lists no office of its own) · Part of American Licorice Company
Our verdict
RecommendedTorie & Howard's organic claim is one you can check yourself. The USDA Organic Integrity Database lists American Licorice Co. of La Porte, Indiana as a certified operation under Oregon Tilth, and the certificate names the candy flavor by flavor: Hard Candy (Blood Orange & Honey), Hard Candy (Meyer Lemon & Raspberry), Hard Candy (Pomegranate & Nectarine), Hard Candy (Grapefruit & Tupelo Honey), an assorted-flavor hard candy and the lollipops. That is the certification our Red 40 candy page relies on for this pick, and it holds up on the register rather than only on the label. The panel agrees with it: the brand's own back-of-pack image for the Meyer Lemon & Raspberry tin lists organic sugar, organic rice syrup, citric acid and natural flavors, "Colored with: Red Cabbage, Purple Carrots, Organic Carrot, Organic Apple, Organic Blackcurrant" — no synthetic color. We found no FDA recall, no California Proposition 65 notice and no federal case that names Torie & Howard or any of its products as of 2026-10-12. The parent's record is a separate question and it is not blank: American Licorice recalled Red Vines and Natural Vines black licorice in 2012 after elevated lead was found, and settled a California Proposition 65 licorice case in 2014. Those were licorice products, both recalls are closed, and all of it happened years before American Licorice owned this brand.
- Best for
- A tin of hard candy for a handbag or a party bag when you want the dye question settled by an organic certificate you can look up rather than by reading every panel.
- Skip if
- You avoid honey — the Blood Orange & Honey and Pink Grapefruit & Tupelo Honey flavors are made with a honey-derived essence, so the line is not vegan across the board even though it is often described that way.
Reviewed by Dan Golden · October 2026
Company facts
- What they make
- candy, food dyes, organic
- Where it's made
- Torie & Howard was co-founded by Torie Burke and Howard Slatkin in 2012, by the account of American Licorice Company, which bought the brand on 2 February 2021. American Licorice is the family company behind Red Vines and Sour Punch, started by Martin Kretchmer in 1914 and now based in La Porte, Indiana. The brand's FAQ says "Our Hard Candy and seasonal Lollipops are made in Mexico"; it does not name the manufacturer. That fits how the USDA register describes American Licorice's organic certificate, whose business type is "Marketer/Trader, Private Labeler" rather than a processor.
The company behind American Licorice Company (Torie & Howard)
- Founded
- 1914
- Headquarters
- La Porte, Indiana (parent company American Licorice Co.; ALC also operates a manufacturing facility in Union City, California). The Torie & Howard brand itself does not list a separate HQ.
- Ownership
- Independent
No outside owner who can reset the standards.
Safety breakdown
USDA Organic Integrity Database, read 2026-10-12: American Licorice Co., NOP ID 8150013059, certifier Oregon Tilth Certified Organic, status Certified, effective 2020-04-16, with the Torie & Howard hard candies and lollipops listed under its handling scope. We found no FDA food enforcement record under the firm names "Torie", "Torie & Howard" or "Torie and Howard", and none whose product description names the brand, in openFDA as of 2026-10-12; no Proposition 65 notice names the brand by defendant or product; no federal docket names it. Parent-company record, kept separate because none of it is this brand's: three FDA food enforcement events for American Licorice, all terminated — Class II, initiated 2012-08-21, Red Vines black licorice and Snaps, after California's health department found elevated lead; Class II, initiated 2012-10-02, Natural Vines black licorice, after the firm's own sampling found elevated lead; and Class III, initiated 2014-04-25, Red Vines Fruit Vines Bites, for a nutrition panel that printed sodium as 35 g instead of 35 mg. One Proposition 65 court case named American Licorice among some twenty licorice makers and retailers (CEH v. Trader Joe's Company, San Francisco Superior Court CGC-12-527270, lead in licorice), settled in 2014 with reformulation and a judgment entered 2014-07-02; a 2025 notice over a sugar-free Red Vines black licorice was withdrawn two weeks after it was filed. Proposition 65 is a warning-label statute and those claims alleged a missing warning. Federal dockets naming American Licorice are employment, contract, trademark, disability-access and bankruptcy matters, plus one personal-injury product-liability case from 1994 that we did not read.
Torie & Howard on SafeMama
3 products reviewed · 1 list · 0 SafeMama Picks
- 3
- products reviewed
- 0
- SafeMama Picks
- 0
- we'd skip
- 1
- best-of lists
USDA Organic Integrity Database, read 2026-10-12: American Licorice Co., NOP ID 8150013059, certifier Oregon Tilth Certified Organic, status Certified, effective 2020-04-16, with the Torie & Howard hard candies and lollipops listed under its handling scope. We found no FDA food enforcement record under the firm names "Torie", "Torie & Howard" or "Torie and Howard", and none whose product description names the brand, in openFDA as of 2026-10-12; no Proposition 65 notice names the brand by defendant or product; no federal docket names it. Parent-company record, kept separate because none of it is this brand's: three FDA food enforcement events for American Licorice, all terminated — Class II, initiated 2012-08-21, Red Vines black licorice and Snaps, after California's health department found elevated lead; Class II, initiated 2012-10-02, Natural Vines black licorice, after the firm's own sampling found elevated lead; and Class III, initiated 2014-04-25, Red Vines Fruit Vines Bites, for a nutrition panel that printed sodium as 35 g instead of 35 mg. One Proposition 65 court case named American Licorice among some twenty licorice makers and retailers (CEH v. Trader Joe's Company, San Francisco Superior Court CGC-12-527270, lead in licorice), settled in 2014 with reformulation and a judgment entered 2014-07-02; a 2025 notice over a sugar-free Red Vines black licorice was withdrawn two weeks after it was filed. Proposition 65 is a warning-label statute and those claims alleged a missing warning. Federal dockets naming American Licorice are employment, contract, trademark, disability-access and bankruptcy matters, plus one personal-injury product-liability case from 1994 that we did not read.
A brand tier is a summary, never a verdict — always read the product page. How tiers are calculated
Where this brand appears
Torie & Howard products we track
Torie & Howard Natural Fruits Organic Hard Candy, Pomegranate and Nectarine, 2 Ounce
- USDA Organic
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Red Dye 40, Artificial Dyes
Manufacturer statement checked · source
Torie and Howard Organic Hard Candy Tin, Blood Orange and Honey, 2 Ounce
- USDA Organic
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Red Dye 40, Artificial Dyes
Manufacturer statement 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.