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 Food
Labels To List Allergens
by Janet Rausa Fuller, Chicago Sun Times, July 22, 2004
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Bryan Bunning
was 6 months old when his mom stopped nursing and gave him his
first bottle of formula.
"He had one sip, and he literally blew up in front of my face,"
Denise Bunning, 37, of Lake Forest, said of her son's swollen
body.
Bunning didn't know at the time that her son was having a
life-threatening allergic reaction to the milk-based formula.
After years of scrutinizing food labels, Bunning can now rattle
off the various scientific terms for milk, eggs and nuts, as can
her sons, Bryan, now 10, and 7-year-old Daniel, both of whom
have food allergies.
New legislation promises to make life easier for the Bunnings
and about 11 million other Americans with food allergies.
The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, which
the U.S. House of Representatives passed late Tuesday and awaits
President Bush's signature, will require food makers to identify
on labels, in plain language, whether a food product contains
any of the eight main food allergens: milk, eggs, fish,
shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts and soybeans.
The FDA requires that food makers list every ingredient in a
product, but often scientific terms are used on labels, making
it unclear for someone with food allergies.
Under the new bill, a product containing the milk protein
casein, for example, must clearly list the word "milk" on the
label in addition to "casein."
"This is so fantastic for us because now I can pick up a package
and I can determine, is this safe, is this not safe," said
Bunning, who co-founded the Chicago area support group Mothers
of Children Having Allergies. The bill also requires labels to
list any food allergens in spices, flavorings and additives and
calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to define
"gluten-free" and how the term will be used on food labels.
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