Question: What do these foods have in common? -- milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans. Answer: They're the eight major allergenic foods.
Now, a news flash: If a food contains protein from any of these eight foods, manufacturers need to list the food on the package label beginning Jan. 1.
As the newly labeled foods begin to reach the market, the notices will send a warning signal to your allergic patients and their families.
"The eight major food allergens account for 90 percent of all documented food allergic reactions, and some reactions may be severe or life-threatening," Robert Brackett, Ph.D., director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a Dec. 20 news release. About 2 percent of adults and about 5 percent of young children in the United States have food allergies, the release noted.
The labels will be consumer-friendly, even for youngsters, said the release. For example, if a product contains the protein casein, the label will use the term milk in addition to casein.
The change in labeling comes as a result of the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. An FDA Q-and-A document gives advice to consumers about the act. Note: Grocery stores do not need to remove foods from their shelves that were labeled before Jan. 1, so it may take awhile for many products in stores to have the allergens listed on their labels.
