Dove Chocolate

One of my blog readers sent me an e-mail about Dove Chocolate and their "awesome" labeling for peanut/tree nut allergens. I went on their website, but couldn't find a written statement. However, if you call their automated phone system (800-551-0704), there is an option to press for a list of peanut free products.

I hope my reader doesn't mind me quoting her, but she spoke to several reps from the Mars company, and I wanted to pass along what she found out. They told her that "they will always list "may contains" if it is manufactured in a facility or on shared equipment with peanuts." Several of their products no longer carry a "may contain" warning so the assumption is that they must have a peanut free facility.

Thanks to my reader for e-mailing me. She was excited to be able to buy a candy bar for her peanut allergic son, who was in heaven having such a wonderful chocolate treat.

Cross-Contamination Concerns

The last couple of weeks, the peanut allergy message boards have been full of posts discussing companies' labeling policies.  One post that was concerning involved a teenager that had an anaphylactic reaction to Hershey's Rolo Caramels.  Someone responded to that post stating that she had spoken at length with a supervisor at Hershey's.  He told her that the majority of their products were manufactured on shared equipment with peanuts/nuts, and that the 1.5 oz Hershey bar was the only one made on a dedicated line.

The Hershey's allergen statement on their website reads as follows: "We take food allergies very seriously at Hershey and have strict procedures in place to prevent crossover of allergens into other products that do not contain the allergen. In instances where we have a concern about possible crossover by an allergen we take the added precaution of including an allergy information statement on the label."

Now my question is how many companies use shared manufacturing equipment, clean it and consider that they've removed all possibility of allergen cross-contamination??  It you believe Kashi's website information, it's impossible to remove all traces of peanut/tree nut..."Scientific evidence has shown that consumers with peanut and tree nut allergies can have a severe reaction to amounts that are below the current detectable limits based on existing technology."

I spent over 2 hours the other night searching the internet for some study or article that would validate either position, and didn't come up with much.  I did find the issue well stated in a 2008 study introduction published in the Journal of Food Protection, "Although allergen removal through cleaning of shared equipment or processing lines has been identified as one of the critical points for effective allergen control, there is little published information on the effectiveness of cleaning procedures for removing allergenic materials from processing equipment. There also is no consensus on how to validate or verify the efficacy of cleaning procedures."  Now, if I could only get access to the results of that study!

I found a ton of food industry articles on how to manage food allergens in the manufacturing processes as well as information on the type of tests available to test for allergen residue on equipment. A group from the University of Florida studied the effectiveness of commercial allergen test kits.  Their results were that the three common cleaning protocols regularly used in the food industry did not yield the same results. Some were better than others.  Does this mean that food allergy savvy parents need to ask what test kit a manufacturer uses to verify that there lines are clean and that there is no chance of cross-contamination?

In 2001, the Senior Health Policy Adviser for the Grocery Manufacturers Association offered testimony on the challenge of labeling food allergens. The speaker addresses the challenge of cleaning ingredients like peanut butter on manufacturing equipment.

Food Allergen Labeling, Part 1

When a family member has a food allergy, especially a life-threatening one, reading food labels becomes an obsession.  I don't think I purchase a single thing anymore without first reading the label.  Even if it's a product that I know to be safe, I still take a quick glance to make sure that the label hasn't changed to now include a cross-contamination warning.

I thought I'd spend some time discussing food allergen labeling. Even though, I've read labels faithfully now for almost 6 years, I recently learned something about the allergen labeling law that surprised me.

In January of 2006, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) went into effect.  Here's what it addreses:

• Food manufacturers must disclose "major food allergens" to include milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and Crustacean shellfish.

• The allergen must be identified by name, i.e., cashews, tuna, shrimp, etc.

• A scientific ingredient like casein may be listed, but a more consumer friendly term, like milk, has to also be included.

What it doesn't address:

• Allergens not considered major, for example, sesame seeds or cinnamon do not have to be listed and can be included in the terms "spices" or "natural flavors".

• Non-crustacean shellfish like clam and squid are not included.

• The "May Contain" advisory statement is voluntary.

That last one was the shocker for me.  For whatever reason, I've been under the impression for the last 6 years that labels had to include the "May Contain" statement and that a statement like "Manufactured in a Facility that also Processes Peanuts" was the voluntary one.

I didn't realize this until I recently contacted Pepperidge Farms about their products.  I was looking at one of their variety cookie products and was shocked to see that pecans was included in a very long list of ingredients, but there was no "May Contains" statement.  I e-mailed them questioning this, and they advised me that they were in complete compliance (I'll post their response at a later date).  Doubting them lead me to further research.

I can't believe all this time I thought a "May Contain" statement was a requirement.  In fact, as published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, an audit done in 2009 of 20,241 products showed that only 17% included an advisory statement.  Chocolate candy, cookies and baking mixes had the highest frequency.  Here's a chart (found in a report given to the FDA on the Use of Advisory Labeling of Allergens in Foods) indicating the products with the highest usage of an advisory statement.

A subset of this audit also indicated that there were over 25 different advisory terminologies, i.e., "May Contains", "Manufactured in a Facility", "Manufactured using the Same Equipment", etc.  No wonder we spend so much time reading labels at the grocery store.  And for me, contacting companies for clarification of their labels.  Wouldn't it be nice if there were some regulated standardizations!!

There is another study indicating consumers perceptions of risk associated with the various advisory terminologies which I will review in my next post.  In the meantime, I have a question for other parents of children with life-threatening food allergies.  What is your comfort level with food packaging labels?  Are you okay with products made on the same line?  What about in the same facility? And, if a manufacturer tells you it's safe, do you take their word for it without understanding their manufacturing process?  I've included a poll at the top of the blog for your answers.