Edmonton business getting ready to launch good-for-you gummies

An Edmonton business is getting ready to launch its line of locally made gummies that are good for you.

Jolene Ali, owner and founder of Gummy Nutrition Lab, is working on her first line of natural health gummies.

“It’s very similar to making a confectionery gummy,” she said, adding that the big difference is the addition of vitamins, minerals and herbals.

While there are cannabis gummy creators in the city, Ali said she believes her company is the only Health Canada certified gummy manufacturer that is making “natural health products.”

She said the lab has been busy for the last six months, working on different formulas and flavours for the low-sugar, high-fibre sweets.

“We’re always constantly testing different formulas,” she added. “To be honest, we probably do 100 tests to one that actually turns out.

“We do have to test and test and test.”

All that testing means a lot of tasting too, with the facility pumping out 24,000 candies an hour.

“I eat lots and lots of gummies every day,” Ali said. “Even the bad ones we taste.”

Once they find a formula that checks all the boxes, it takes around 24 hours to make a batch. Then, the gummies are sent out for third-party testing.

Ali said Health Canada requires that all active ingredients are within 20 per cent of what’s listed.

“With natural health products, we have to verify that what we say on the label is actually in the product after manufacturing,” she added. “It’s actually tested three times throughout its shelf life.”

With just a few more tweaks to make, she added, the first gummies should be available to the public in six to eight weeks.

The first two products available will be a weight loss gummy and a fibre gummy, both of which are made with locally-sourced ingredients.

“One thing that we’re very proud of is that we’re using Alberta ingredients,” Ali said.

“I’ve really been able to tap into a network of people that have been really amazing in our community. Who are interested in what we’re doing, who are doing really interesting things themselves. . . It’s really been the best.”

Gummies will be sold online, through Amazon and in some select stores.