A new federal law requiring sesame to be listed as an allergen on food labels has unintended consequences – increasing the number of products containing the ingredient.
Food industry experts have said the requirements are so stringent that many manufacturers, especially bakers, find it simpler and cheaper to add sesame to a product – and label it – than trying to keep it away from other sesame-containing foods or equipment.
As a result, several companies — including national restaurant chains like Olive Garden, Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A and bread makers that stock grocery store shelves and serve schools — are adding sesame to products they don’t. hadn’t before. Although the practice is legal, consumers and advocates say it violates the spirit of the law to make food safer for people with allergies.
“It was really exciting as a policy advocate and a mother to get these labels,” said Naomi Seiler, a consultant at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, whose 9-year-old daughter, Zoe, is allergic to sesame. . Instead, companies intentionally add the allergen to foods.
The new law, which will come into force on January 1. 1, requires all foods made and sold in the United States to be labeled if they contain sesame, which is now the nation’s ninth major allergen. Sesame can be found in obvious places, such as sesame seeds on hamburger buns. But it’s also an ingredient in many foods, from protein bars to ice cream, added to sauces, dips and dressings, and hidden in spices and flavorings.
Advocates for families struggling with allergies have lobbied for years to add sesame to the list of major allergens. Congress in 2004 created labeling requirements for eight: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy.
More than 1.6 million people in the United States have sesame allergies, some so severe they need injections of epinephrine, a drug used to treat life-threatening reactions. Cases of sesame allergy have increased in recent years, along with an increasing number of foods containing the ingredient, said Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a pediatrician and director of the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research at Northwestern University.
“Sesame is in so many things that people don’t really understand,” said Gupta, who called the decision to add sesame to products “so disappointing.”
“In families that have a sesame allergy, it’s really difficult,” she said.
Under the new law, imposed by the Food and Drug Administration, companies must now explicitly label sesame as an ingredient or separately note that a product contains sesame. In the United States, ingredients are listed on product packaging in order of quantity. Sesame labeling has been required for years in other places, including Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
If the ingredients do not contain sesame, companies must take steps to prevent food from coming into contact with sesame, which is called cross-contamination.
Food industry experts said the new requirements are neither simple nor practical.
“It’s as if we suddenly asked the bakers to go to the beach and remove all the sand,” said Nathan Mirdamadi, a consultant at Commercial Food Sanitation, which advises the industry on food safety.
Some companies include statements on labels that a food “may contain” a certain product or that the food is “produced in a facility” that also uses certain allergens. However, these statements are voluntary, not mandatory, according to the FDA, and they do not waive company requirements to prevent cross-contamination.
Instead, some companies have taken a different approach. Olive Garden officials said that starting this week, the chain is adding “a minimal amount of sesame flour” to the company’s famous breadsticks “due to the potential for cross-contamination at the bakery.”
Chick-fil-A has changed its white rolls and multigrain buns to include sesame, while Wendy’s said the company has added sesame to its golden sticks and rolls.
United States Bakery, which operates Franz Family Bakeries in California and the Northwest, informed customers in March that they would add a small amount of sesame flour to all hamburger and hot dog buns and buns.” to mitigate the risk of any adverse reactions to sesame products.” .”
While such actions do not violate the law, the FDA “does not support them,” the agency said in a statement.
“This would make it harder for customers with sesame allergies to find foods they can safely eat,” the statement said.
Some large companies have already added other allergens to products and updated their labels. In 2016, Kellogg’s added traces of peanut flour to some cookies and crackers, sparking protests.
It’s frustrating and scary for parents like Kristy Fitzgerald of Crookston, Minnesota. She learned last spring that Pan-O-Gold Baking Co., which supplies bread to schools, health centers and grocery stores in the Midwest, was adding small amounts of sesame to its products, including those served at the her daughter’s school. Meanwhile, six-year-old Audrey has outgrown her sesame allergy.
Bob Huebner, head of food safety and quality assurance at Pan-O-Gold, told Fitzgerald in a series of emails that the company was forced to add a sesame to the product and the ‘label.
“The unfortunate fact is that our equipment and bakeries are not prepared for the allergen cleanings that would be required to prevent sesame cross-contamination and were not an option for us,” Huebner wrote in an email to Fitzgerald. . Huebner responded to an email from the AP but did not respond to questions about company practices.
Fitzgerald started an online petition to protest the decision to add sesame.
“At some point, someone is going to give an allergic child sesame,” Fitzgerald said. “It makes me think the laws need to change to show that this is not an acceptable practice.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science and Education Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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