Industry develops guidelines for allergen labeling

The voluntary guidelines are designed to provide consumers with labels containing clear information on allergens in the products. The guidelines address the eight food groups responsible for 90% of food allergies. They are crustaceans, eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, and wheat. These ingredients will be identified in easy-to-understand terms, such as “milk” rather than “casein.” Allergens will be disclosed even though they are not currently required in the declaration, as in when they are part of a flavoring, an incidental additive, or a processing aid. The information will be placed within or in immediate proximity to the ingredient panel. The guidelines won praise from the Food and Drug Administration and from Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson, who said, “you’ve taken a giant step forward on allergens—and much faster than we’ve been able to do as a department.” But the Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling for mandatory allergen labeling rather than voluntary guidelines. It praised the House Appropriations Committee for adopting an amendment by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), on the FY 2002 appropriations bill for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and FDA. The National Food Processors Assn., a leading member of the Alliance, earlier released its “Code of Practice” for food manufacturers to follow in managing food allergens. These actions followed a recent two-year study by FDA, which found that dangerous allergens were not listed on food labels. Although there are no penalties for those who do not follow the guidelines, NFPA believes consumers will chose products with clearer labels.