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Posted By: myaroma Do Allergy Warnings on Food Labels Help? - 07/31/07 11:36 AM
This is a very good article.

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And not only are people with allergies having serious side effects but people with chemical sensitivities are too.

I recently ran into a few foods that used "flavored oils". It was in a bread; pizza dough; natural ginger snap cookie and frozen vegetable packets (with those clumps of stuff for seasoning). I emailed the producers and told them I had an anaphyctic reaction and they NEEDED to label them such. You'll often just see 'natural flavoring'. There's a big difference between a spice extract and flavored oils.

As an example of how useless "may contain" type labeling is - I saw a box of chocolates marked Kosher pareve (free of dairy AND meat products) by one of the more stringent organizations, which was labeled with a "processed on equipment where dairy products are processes" label, followed by a long note from the Rabbi explaining that the food is in fact dairy free and the equipment has been cleaned throughly under rabbinic supervision and that the label is only there for people who are so highly allergic that if there were the slightest bit of dairy in the air from the diary products stored in a separate part of the building would produce an allergic reaction.

Julie
This is absolutely true:
I was in a supermarket, with a friend, who was buying food for her family.
She picked up a packet, and this is what it said:

"Fish Pieces.
Succulent bite-sized morsels of fish for dishes such as fish pie, or mixed seafood platter. Filetted, skinned and boned.
Fish contents: Cod, Smoked Haddock, Mackerel, Nile Perch, Monkfish.

Allergy warning: Contains fish.
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