new labeling guidelines

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Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company

Nation & World : Friday, June 01, 2001

New labeling to focus on food allergies

By Melinda Fulmer

Los Angeles Times

In an attempt to head off more restrictive

legislation, food-industry groups

yesterday issued labeling guidelines that would make

allergy-causing

ingredients easier to identify on processed-food

packages.

Scientific terms such as albumen and casein would be

replaced on

ingredient panels with simpler language such as eggs

and milk. And small

amounts of allergy-causing substances such as peanuts

previously exempted

from disclosure because they were part of a product's

" natural flavoring " that

will now be displayed on ingredient lists.

" At least now they'll be using vocabulary words

[people] are familiar with, "

said Dr. Sheldon Spector, a Los Angeles-area

allergist. " I see too many

people who are sensitive to these things getting in

trouble. "

The guidelines are likely to be adopted by most of

the nation's largest food

companies. However, allergists and some consumer

groups say the

measures don't go far enough to protect the almost 7

million Americans with

food allergies.

" We need legislation because these guidelines are

completely voluntary, "

said son, executive director of the

Center for Science in the

Public Interest.

More than 30,000 people a year are rushed to

emergency rooms around the

nation with anaphylaxis, a reaction from food

allergies. Although most are

given a shot of epinephrine and sent home, about

2,000 are hospitalized,

and as many as 200 die, according to the American

Academy of Allergy,

Asthma and Immunology.

The guidelines come a week before Democrats in the

House and Senate

plan to introduce legislation which, if enacted,

would require all food

manufacturers to clearly identify allergens on their

labels, or risk fines or

other enforcement action from the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA).

" The industry's guidelines are long overdue, " said

Sen. Kennedy,

D-Mass., one of the bill's sponsors. " We simply can't

rely on the industry's

good faith to protect consumers with potentially

fatal food allergies. "

Food-industry trade groups argue that legislation is

unnecessary because

these guidelines have broad support across the

industry. Food

manufacturers say they don't want to alienate

consumers or risk lawsuits

with insufficient labeling.

Many big manufacturers such as Hershey Foods and

General Mills already

have instituted policies that make allergens easier

to spot on labels. General

Mills, for example, lists these items in bold type or

uses separate statements

such as " contains milk products. "

However, son and others worry that smaller

manufacturers might not

go to the trouble and expense of changing their

packaging if they're not

required to do so.

The guidelines target the eight major food allergens

that are responsible for

90 percent of all allergic reactions. They are

shellfish, eggs, fish, milks,

peanuts, soy, tree nuts and wheat.

The guidelines would not require any type of warning

or special symbol on

the front of the package to identify a product as

containing a major food

allergen, as some activists have sought from the FDA.

Food manufacturers

say such warnings might scare unaffected consumers

unnecessarily.

Nor do the guidelines call for manufacturers who

process other foods with

known allergens to put statements warning consumers

that traces of these

products may be present from cross-contamination.

Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company