Friday, March 27, 2009

Allergen Labeling Study

A study at the University of Nebraska found that peanut, milk, and egg proteins were found in products labeled with "may contain", "shared equipment", and "shared facility" warnings. Even more unnerving were the results from a separate study showing that a handful of products with no warnings whatsoever did indeed test positive for milk and/or egg protein.

The Nebraska study found that milk was commonly present in products with a variety of labeling terms:

23 of 50 labeled as "may contain milk"
13 of 57 with "shared equipment" language
9 of 40 with "shared facility" language
16 of 29 with milk listed as a "minor" ingredient
1 of 3 with other labeling terminology


In order to keep our food allergic children as safe as possible, we should all remember that if there is *any* type of may contain warning on a package to assume that it could, in fact, be contaminated and avoid it.

You can view the article in its entirety here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAAAI/13318

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Very disturbing article. Thanks for sharing- and I do mean that!

We use San Giorgio Pasta which says "processed in a facility with egg products". I talked to them on the phone and they assured me there was no cross-contamination. Hard to know who to trust!