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FDA Study Finds Allergens
Often Not Listed On Food Packages

Food Allergies • Allergy-Free Grocery May Make Mothers' Lives Easier • Peanut Allergy May Fade with Time • Food Labels To Include Allergy Information In 2006 • Watch That Peanut Butter! • FDA Study Finds Allergens Often Not Listed On Food Packages

May 15, 2001
A study by the Food and Drug Administration finds that up to 25 percent of food manufacturers are failing to identify common allergens that can cause potentially fatal reactions in the seven million Americans with food allergies.

Over a two-year period, the FDA studied 85 food companies, with help from state regulators in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It found that a quarter of the companies were turning out cookies, ice cream, candy and other products that contained nuts, milk and other potential allergens without listing them on the label, as required by law. Only half the manufacturers regularly checked their products to be certain that all of the ingredients that were actually present were listed on the label, the FDA said.

Consumer advocates and public health officials expressed dismay at the findings, which they said exposed "major shortfalls" in food safety, making it impossible for even the most careful consumer to reliably avoid allergens.

Allergens in food are the most common cause of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction in which the skin itches, the throat swells and breathing becomes short. In severe cases, blood pressure plummets, the heart flutters and death can result.

Each year, 30,000 Americans wind up in emergency rooms for treatment of anaphylaxis. About 200 of them die each year.

Many of the allergens found in the tested foods were not deliberately added by the manufacturer. Instead, they were the result of inadvertent contamination of spatulas, bowls, liners, wrappers and other materials. For example, one plant used the same utensils to stir separate mixes without washing them between users, thus spreading minute traces of peanuts from one mix to another.

Cross-contamination of this type may sound minor but it takes only the most minute amount, about one five-thousandth of teaspoon, of an allergenic substance to set off a full-blown reaction in a susceptible individual, doctors said.

A coalition of attorneys general from nine states is pressing the FDA to adopt new regulations that would tighten the rules for food manufacturers. In Congress, Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) has introduced legislation that would require food companies to prevent unintentional contamination of their products.

Meanwhile, the FDA says it is working with the food companies to improve their practices and most are willing to do so.

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