Pick up a bag of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. Under the list of ingredients—sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, and soy lecithin—you’ll find this phrase: Made in a facility that also processes peanuts.
Seeing this warning for the first time after our son Graeme was diagnosed with multiple food allergies scared the hell out of me. Is there wheat in his oatmeal? Could a peanut be lurking in his yogurt-covered raisins? Even a minuscule amount of the wrong allergen could send him into anaphylactic shock.
As disturbing as it was to see the label for the first time, I was astonished to discover that food manufacturers print such warnings voluntarily. But soon they may be required to do so.
On September 16, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold its first public hearing on whether current food-allergy labeling, which only mandates disclosing actual ingredients, is effective. The agency will consider whether to add cross-contamination labeling. While advocacy and food-packaging groups will certainly be center stage at the hearing, the rest of us can submit comments through the government’s regulatory website.
This issue may sound like an example of overreaction and overregulation—like asking restaurants to do away with peanuts. But it’s not. For people with food allergies, cross contamination can cause serious harm even if the offending allergen is very, very small. (My son can react if someone is frying food in peanut oil—even when he’s not in the kitchen.)
There are no studies that indicate how frequently those with food allergies are injured by the inadvertent incorporation of allergens into other foods, but the FDA says food-allergy reactions cause an estimated 30,000 emergency department visits every year in the United States.
Next: A call to action
Comments (3)
I would also be annoyed with the cases where the CYA warning eliminated tons of foods that Graeme could actually eat.
the FDA should be consistent with their labeling requirement because i believe it should be mandatory for a food production factory its food allergies. someone can have allergies affects and can cause death.
Wouldn’t you rather be warned that there is a risk than not be warned and have your son, whose allergy is so sensitive he cannot even tolerate miniscule exposure to peanuts, potentially suffer an adverse, or even fatal, reaction? I think that this is the whole motivation…simply keeping the bases covered and not risking anything. I’d say those more expensive, allergen-free chips are well worth the extra buck.