For
Immediate Release: May 30, 2001
For more
information: 202/332-9110
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Consumer Group Calls For Allergy-Labeling
Legislation “Food
Manufacturers May Not Comply With Voluntary Labeling Guidelines”
WASHINGTON - The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest
(CSPI) today called for Federal legislation to ensure that all food
manufacturers comply with labeling and other measures to protect consumers
from allergens in food.
“Five years ago the Food and Drug
Administration asked food manufacturers voluntarily to disclose the
presence of food allergens and to deal with ‘cross-contamination’,” said
Michael F. Jacobson, CSPI’s Executive Director. “Yet last year an FDA
survey revealed that one-quarter of a sampling of foods contained
undeclared allergens. It’s time for Congress to step in and pass the bill
that Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) will introduce shortly. Without such
a law, FDA cannot take action against products that contain accidental
contaminants. The food industry’s promotion today of voluntary labeling is
a tactic for preventing necessary legislation.”
In June 1996, Fred R. Shank, then
Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), wrote to the National Food
Processors (NFPA) Association and more than 100 other food trade
associations. He asked them to notify their members of the need to
disclose on the package even minute amounts of allergens, including those
in spices, flavorings, and colorings and “to take all steps necessary to
eliminate cross contamination.” In December 1996, Dr. David A. Kessler,
then FDA Commissioner, also wrote to the NFPA asking for its help in
“addressing a major public health problem of undeclared allergens in
food.”
A 2000 survey by the FDA, the Minnesota
Department of Agriculture, and Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade,
and Consumer Protection found that in a sampling of 85 manufacturers of
bakery products, candy, and ice cream in Minnesota and Wisconsin,
one-quarter made products that were contaminated with peanut or egg
ingredients that were not declared on the product labels. |