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More Allergy Alert!!!

© Maggie Herman

Under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, § 403(i), food processors are allowing to exclude flavors, colors, and spices from product labels in certain cases. A regulation passed under the act also allows for exclusion of incidental additives where (1) the additives are present at insignificant levels and (2) they have no technical or functional effect in the finished product. However, the agency is considering changing these exemptions as they apply to allergens and is currently calling on the industry to study which additives contain common allergens. The agency is currently considering a proposal submitted by nine state Attorneys General that would require food processors to provide warnings or symbols on products to alert consumers to the presence of certain allergens. Generally, food companies oppose the Attorneys General's proposal because they fear it would unnecessarily alarm consumers.

The Food Allergy Issues Alliance (FAIA), a group of trade associations and others, has developed a set of guidelines, suggesting that no regulatory action is required. Under the FAIA guidelines, food processors would provide labels for certain exempt ingredients that contain common allergens. The guidelines provide an exception for allergens that are processed in a manner such that the active protein, the allergy-causing item, has been extracted from the food product. This is an alternative to analytical testing, which some manufacturers reportedly are refusing to conduct in order to avoid legal liability. The labeling provision also suggests that manufacturers should use the common names for food items. For instance instead of listing casein and albumin on food labels, manufacturers should use the terms milk and eggs.

Additionally, the FAIA has issued guidelines covering the issuance of cautionary statements—labels providing that a product "may contain peanuts." The FDA cautions that these statements may constitute illegal product misbranding where the product is unlikely to contain the ingredient. Thus, the FAIA guidelines recommend that cautionary statements should only be used when (1) a major food allergen's presence is documented, such as when its detected by analytical testing or visual inspection, (2) the risk of the presence of the allergen is unavoidable, despite the use of good manufacturing practices, (3) the allergen is present in some, but not all, of a product line, and (4) the food allergen is potentially hazardous.

Approximately seven million Americans suffer from food allergies, the most common of which include allergies to soy, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, wheat, and shell fish. About 150 to 200 hundred people die each year during food allergy reactions. In addition, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, another 30,000 seek emergency room treatment for allergic side effects. Adverse food allergen events can include anaphylaxis, in which a tightening of the throat and shortness of breath occur, the skin itches, and the individuals blood pressure drops and the heartbeat fluctuates. Other adverse events include vomiting, diarrhea, eczema, and hives. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the most effective treatment for a food allergy is total avoidance. According to Dr. Hugh A. Sampson of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as little as one five-thousandth of a teaspoon of an allergen may produce a fatal reaction in some food-allergic individuals.

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