Dec. 1, 2016 — Food allergy warning labels are confusing for consumers and need to be improved, experts say.
Phrases such as “Made in the same factory as peanuts” or ”May contain traces of tree nuts” do little to help people with food allergies understand the actual risk, according to a report from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the Associated Press reported.
The committee said regulators and the food industry need to improve the voluntary labels on food products about possible accidental contamination with food allergens.
Currently, “there’s not any real way for allergic consumers to evaluate risk,” committee member Stephen Taylor, a University of Nebraska food scientist, told the AP.
Research suggests that consumers might simply ignore the warnings, but that doing so is “essentially a form of playing Russian roulette with your food,” he said.
The Food and Drug Administration should replace “precautionary” labels with risk-based ones, the committee said.
That would mean determining a safety level for different allergens. Labeling based on that information would help consumers decide if they want to take a chance on a food or not, according to Taylor.
About 12 million Americans are believed to have food allergies, which can sometimes trigger fatal allergic reactions. But the actual number is unknown, and the committee said it’s crucial for government scientists to get an accurate figure, because that’s an important first step in determining if food allergies are on the rise and who’s most likely to be affected, the AP reported.
The committee also recommended: better informing new parents about allergy prevention; better training for first responders, restaurant staff and others about helping people avoid foods they’re allergic to, and how to treat severe allergic reactions with an injection of the drug epinephrine; and better education for health providers and the public about the differences between food allergies and other disorders that people sometimes mistake for allergies, such as lactose intolerance and gluten sensitivity.
The FDA is reviewing the report and is “particularly interested” in the science behind the committee’s labeling recommendations, spokeswoman Megan McSeveney told the AP.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association indicated support for new labeling.
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