Eleven million Americans with food allergies, thousands of whom live in Tennessee, will soon have an easier time determining which processed foods contain substances they can’t eat.
A federal law titled “The Food Allergen and Consumer Protection Act” goes into effect January first. It requires food manufacturers to identify in plain, commonly used English, the presence of any of the eight major food allergens – milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy.
Anne Munoz Furlong is the founder and CEO of the Food Allergies and Anaphylaxis Network. She says 30-thousand Americans visit the emergency room each year because of food allergies – and 150 die from allergic reactions.
“It took us more than a decade to educate the food industry about why this is important, and then Capitol Hill. And until we had the science to show what a public issue this is, how it effects not just the patient but everyone around him, there really was no interest, everybody thought, “It’s really very simple, just read the label and avoid milk” and it’s not that easy. But it will be after Jan. 1st.”
All manufactured foods – from canned vegetables to doughnuts to frozen dinners – must use the revised labels on every item. Items manufactured before January first may still carry the old label, so it may be several weeks before the new labels show up in local grocery stores.