010606 US Food Firms Agree to List Allergens on Labels

Washington - A coalition of US food industry and consumer groups have developed voluntary guidelines calling for manufacturers to label prominently foods containing peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat and four other possibly life- threatening allergens, the group said.

The labels aim to tell consumers in “clear, simple language” whether a product contains one of the eight common food allergens, according to the coalition led by the National Food Processors Association.

An estimated 7 million Americans have food allergies. The vast majority of allergies are linked to peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, shellfish, other fish and tree nuts.

The eight foods can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive people ranging from skin rashes or diarrhea to life-threatening breathing problems and anaphylactic shock, a potentially fatal allergic reaction in which blood pressure drops dramatically.

About 150 Americans die annually from food allergies, usually from unknowingly eating foods with peanuts or tree nuts, according to the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

In April, the Food and Drug Administration said its tests showed that 25% of US cookies, candy and ice cream sampled in two states contained tiny amounts of peanut, even though the products were not labeled to alert consumers of the potentially deadly allergen.

The FDA inspectors in Minnesota and Wisconsin found that the contamination typically occurred because manufacturers did not thoroughly clean cooking equipment between batches of foods.

The new voluntary guidelines are intended to identify the eight common allergens that are sometimes used by foodmakers, said Regina Hildwine, a labeling expert with the National Food Processors Association.

“There is no treatment for food allergy except to avoid those foods that contain causative proteins,” Hildwine said in a statement. “Food labels with complete and plainly stated information about allergenic ingredients provide food allergic individuals with the tools they need.”

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a group representing consumers with severe food allergies, is also a member of the coalition that prepared the guidelines.

The coalition suggested labels should use language such as, “Allergy information: Contains soy and milk” to indicate if a food has any of the eight allergens.

Labels should also spell out for consumers that terms such as “casein, whey, semolina, natural flavor” are industry jargon sometimes used for milk, wheat or peanuts, the group said.

Foodmakers should also label products if any of the eight food allergens might be present in some--but not all--of the product, or if there is an “unavoidable” risk of an allergen contaminating the product at the plant, the group said.

Some consumer advocates have urged the Food and Drug Administration to require foodmakers to adopt a system of preventive controls, much like those used by processors of meat, poultry, seafood and juice to prevent food poisoning.

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