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Allergy ER What (exactly) is in it? Deciphering food labels has been a murky proposition for food allergy sufferers. Until now. Two or three times a year Gina Mosca is in a heart-pounding race to the emergency room with one of her children who is experiencing a life-threatening reaction to a food allergen. “We’ve had these experiences, even though I read food labels very thoroughly,” says Mosca, a mother of four in Augusta, Maine. Three of her children have been diagnosed with severe food allergies. The fourth child, age 3, is beginning to show signs of having allergies, as well. Her family has to avoid products that contain nuts, peanuts, dairy and seafood. Wheat also is a restricted ingredient. “Grocery shopping has always been very difficult and time consuming,” Mosca says. That’s because ingredient lists usually read more like lab reports than foods. Thanks to recent legislation, grocery shopping may be easier for Mosca and others like her. Since Jan. 1, food labels must declare the presence of a common allergen in clear, easy-to-understand wording. Now you don’t need a science degree if you have food allergies or shop for someone with allergies. You’ll see the words egg, milk and wheat, not only their respective mystery components – albumin, casein and semolina. The new regulations are a boon if you’re one of the estimated 11 million Americans with food allergies or if you cook for people with food allergies. However, if you have food allergy concerns, you still have to shop with caution, health experts say. The regulations are so new you can still find the older, more confusing labels on your supermarket shelf, says Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (www.foodallergy .org/research.html). She estimates that it may take until the middle of 2007 before all food products contain the new language. “It’s now more critical than ever that consumers read the ingredient list,” Munoz-Furlong says. You may still find bewildering words like sodium caseinate and not know it comes from milk or albumin, which derives from eggs. Munoz-Furlong has another fear, as well. You may have eaten a particular food in the past not knowing it contained allergens because the terminology was so confusing or because the company wasn’t required to provide the source of flavorings. Now you have the new improved labeling that shows just what you’re eating. Maybe you ate a cookie with “natural flavoring,” only to discover the flavoring comes from butter. You may think you’re not dairy-allergic because you didn’t have a reaction to the cookie. Don’t go there, Munoz-Furlong says. “Now it’s more critical than ever that consumers read the ingredient list,” Munoz-Furlong says. “Don’t assume you can eat the food (with allergens) because you’ve eaten it in the past. You don’t know how much of the allergen is in the product,” she says. If you’ve always trusted a particular brand to be “safe,” you may not be reading the ingredient list any more. Take that extra precaution. You may discover the product has allergens you weren’t aware of before, Munoz-Furlong says. Also, be aware that the new ingredient lists just cover eight allergens. Such foods as sesame seeds, which cause allergic reactions in some people, aren’t covered by the regulations. Still, the new language is a great improvement, Mosca says. “To a degree, the labeling law has changed my life. The mainstream brands are easier to read,” Mosca says. © CTW Features SideBar Product warnings If you suffer from serious food allergies, then you must be very scrupulous about food shopping. But you still may be confused about products that bear a warning, such as “this product is manufactured in a plant that also processes peanuts (or fill in the blank with other allergens).” Unfortunately there’s no way of knowing what this means. The language is voluntary, though it’s appearing on more packages, says Sue Hefle, associate professor and co-director of the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. “Some companies put the [cautionary] labeling on the package and don’t justify it. Other companies do a risk assessment and then add the caution,” Hefle says. What should you do? If the statement includes an ingredient you’re allergic to, don’t eat the food, Hefle says. You’re less likely to find the warnings on food products from large food companies because they’re doing a better job of controlling allergen contamination, according to Hefle.
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Bev Bennett, a veteran food writer and editor, is the author of "Dinner for Two: A Cookbook for Couples" and "30-Minute Meals for Dummies"
