Flaws with the Labeling Process in the United States

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Written by Kyle Eslick / Published in Celiac Disease

If you’ve been reading this website for awhile, you probably will remember when we wrote about an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune about how not all food allergy labeling is accurate. As the fallout began, there were responses from several major companies include Enjoy Life, Wellshire Farms, and the ACDA.

Now, over a month later, we continue to see more information about food allergies in general and food labeling. Today I was reading a post over at AJC about the fallout from the Chicago Tribune article and ran across some interesting tips that I wanted to pass along to our readers.

Their five main points are:

Labeling Errors Are Common - Parents should know that many product labels contain flaws that mask major allergens.
Labels Can Be Confusing - Parents should understand the scientific terms used for major allergens.
Oats are Often Tainted with Wheat – Parents of children with wheat allergies or celiac disease should steer clear of oats.
Beware of Imported Foods – Parents should know that imports are often unchecked and mislabeled.
Avoid Unlabeled Foods – Parents should not guess the ingredients in unlabeled food; common allergens can exist in unlikely products.

#4 is the one that really resonated with me. Here is what they had to say:

The Tribune found imports with incomplete labels or ingredients listed in other languages — each a violation of the law.

Among the examples: Valencianos Artisanal Crackers, manufactured in Spain and sold at Whole Foods.

The distributor, Forever Cheese of Long Island City, N.Y., initially maintained that the rules didn’t apply to the firm because it imports only a small volume of the crackers.

But the FDA said the rules do apply, regardless of how much is imported.

When told that, Forever Cheese acknowledged that the packages were mislabeled and would be fixed. Whole Foods said it would pull the Valencianos crackers from shelves nationwide.

Over the last 10 years, at least 1 in 7 recalls for undeclared allergens by the FDA and USDA involved imported food, a Tribune database shows. Most products were from China, where, experts say, there are few rules regarding labeling.

Some of this stuff is certainly common sense for anyone with Celiac Disease, but there is some good information in their post, including the information about imported foods which some companies don’t seem to consider when labeling their products.

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