FDA to consider rules for food allergy warnings

Since there are a lot of food allergy posts here, I thought I'd post this here. It seems to affect parents of young kids more than most other groups of people, so this forum seems the most appropriate.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/08/25/food.allergies/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's one of the biggest frustrations of life with food allergies: That hodgepodge of warnings that a food might accidentally contain the wrong ingredient.

The warnings are voluntary -- meaning there's no way to know whether foods that don't bear them really should. And they're vague: Is "may contain traces of peanuts" more reliable than "made in the same factory as peanuts?"

Now health officials in the U.S. and Canada are debating setting standards, amid increasing concern that consumers are so confused they're starting to ignore the warnings.

Starting in 2006, a U.S. law required that foods disclose in plain language when they intentionally contain highly allergenic ingredients such as peanuts or dairy.

Left out of the law are accidental-allergy warnings -- for foods that might become contaminated because they were made in the same factory, or on the same machines, as allergen-containing products. The FDA has said that a quarter of inspected food factories have the potential for such a mix-up.

More and more foods bear precautionary labels, but there's a disconnect. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, an influential consumer group, counts at least 30 different ways that the warnings are worded -- and consumers too often falsely assume that one food is riskier than another because its label sounds scarier.

Three-quarters of parents of food-allergic children surveyed by the group in 2006 said they would never buy a food with an accidental-allergy warning, down from 85 percent in 2003, when such labels were novel.

The FDA's own surveys found the allergic pay more attention to warnings that a food "may contain" an allergen than those "made in the same factory" labels.
Health Library


Yet when University of Nebraska researchers tested nearly 200 products with various accidental-peanut warnings, they found that peanuts were more likely to have sneaked into products labeled "made in the same facility."

Re: FDA to consider rules for food allergy warnings

I've talked about this on a FA board, but it's about flippin' time. The loopholes in the labeling laws are really out of control. I know these companies want to sell more product so they try to be vague, but come on, is someone's health really worth a few more boxes of cereal sold?

Re: FDA to consider rules for food allergy warnings

I think they should have strict labeling - it is hard enough on a parent with a child with a severe food allergy as it is without the constant stress that they might miss a product that contains something their child is allergic to.

Re: FDA to consider rules for food allergy warnings