Allergen Labelling

What would clear allergen labelling mean.

I remember reading a package of Trident gum bought in Canada (when we first went dairy free) it did say that in contained recaldent, but did not say that recaldent was an ingredient made from milk.

See Trident's USA FAQ and CAN FAQ pages. At that time Trident's web and packaging gave no information that the product contained milk.

What about caramel, and caramel colouring, could be made from milk, but may not be made from milk. What did the milk allergic have to do, they phoned the company and ask what the colouring was made from. What did the company using caramel colouring have to do, nothing, they did not even have to say what the ingredient was made from.

"Natural flavourings" is a frightful term for people with many allergens, natural flavourings could have milk, gluten, or corn it it, often with more than one allergen. Companies don't even have to tell people with allergies what they make their "natural flavourings" from.

What does precationary labeling mean to people with milk allergies? ZenSoy pudding says "dairy free" puddings and "certified vegan" but the products are made on the same lines with milk products, currently they don't need to say anything about this on the packaging. So Zen Soy can say "dairy free" with out saying made on the same line as milk or made on the same equipment as milk. Years ago I wrote a e-mail to Zen Soy, they did admitt to their products being made on the same line as milk, then much later added that to their website here, but their package gives no precationary information.

Chapmans Ice cream is indeed made in peanut and tree nut free plants, but their "lactose free" ice cream is made on the same production lines as milk. Champans has no warnings about being made on the same equipment as milk.

Although many are blaming the beer industry for fighting clear labelling, and their wanting not to put lactose and gluten on beer, I really think their are more companies fighting this legislation. I gave the above examples as these companies are the first ones I found early on when my child's fist began being dairy free.

Tofutti

Toffuti, has issued an allergy warning that some of their products contain milk.
Tufutti Brands Recalls Frozen Dessert Brands (now dead link) they claim no reactions have been reported with this recall.

Toffuti websites (Canada, USA and UK used to) all say their products may contain milk, their packaging does not say may contain, or have any precautionary labelling. Their products have always been produced on the same lines as milk.

Read my previous post on reactions Food Allergy Assistant also did a blog post about this issue in 2009 here.

In my opinion they should me shut down if they continue to fail to add a warning that their products that may contain milk. No one is forcing them to warn the public that Kemp Ice cream and Tuffuti are made in the same plant, on the same lines. Allergens getting into foods are bound to happen time to time. This company is a repeat offender, their have also been comments on forms about poor customer service regarding information on cross contamination.

I applaud companies that issue warnings when accidents happen, and provide clear information.

Update on recall, Issued by Steve Kass.

Another reason why we need clear labelling (including precautionary labelling)

In 2009 I asked Michael Abbott of Health Canada about precautionary labelling, and companies like Tuffuti being able to say "dairy free" yet having a history of causing reactions, due to being run on the same line as milk. He did not know of this, or any other specific cases, of this happening.

LinkedIn shows that Michael Abbot is the Food Allergen Program Manager at Health Canada, I'm not sure what his role or knowledge of precautionary labelling is currently.

I also asked him for the list of companies that are petitioning against precautionary labelling. He refused.

See my list of dairy free icecreams

From Health Canada

Consultation - Proposed Policy Intent for Revising Canada's Gluten-free Labelling requirements

Health Health Canada intends to modernize Canada's current gluten-free labelling policy in order to minimize the risk of inadvertent consumption of gluten by sensitive individuals and to maximize the choice of gluten- free foods for consumers following a gluten-free diet. The proposed policy intent document provides background information and outlines the considerations that have led to the development of the proposed principles that will frame Health Canada's review of the gluten-free labelling policy.

The purpose of this consultation is to inform stakeholders of the proposed principles that will guide Health Canada's review of Canada's gluten-free labelling policy and to seek stakeholder feedback on the proposed principles.

The input from this consultation will be used to inform the modernization of Canada's gluten-free labelling policy.

allergy pictures

Contacting Manufacturers

We allergic consumers, spend a great deal of time, contacting manufacturers by phone or e-mail. What method do you prefer?

The hours of e-mail are better, in that they really don't care if you send an e-mail question three O'clock in the afternoon, or three O'clock at night. Some allergic people prefer being able to read the tone of the customer service person's voice. With e-mail, if an e-mail answer does not sound right we can always send another question via another e-mail, if get another answer, flags go up in our heads.

I like that more companies are putting allergen information on their websites, however often we have more questions, and do not like being short answered. Allergic consumers are very knowledgeable about our allergens, and appreciate knowledgeable answers. We get VERY frustrated if we are told that they only give out allergen information to health care professionals. Manufactures be aware we allergic consumers talk, blog, Facebook and Tweet about allergies, and manufactures who do not provide us with the answers we NEED!

Lately I have been hearing of people being asked for doctors notes, before manufactures will give out allergen information. I had this experience a couple of years ago, it is coming back as a mini trend.

Gatorade

Years ago I e-mailed Gatorade about possible milk proteins in Gatorade products. Both a Product manager as well as their in house Nutritionist e-mailed me to confirm that their was no milk proteins in any form in their products.

Now they have a new product G Series Pro 3 recover Gatorade that has milk protein.

Gatorade, is owned by Pepsi see
Pepsi Allergy Information (USA).

I e-mailed both Gatorade US, as well as Gatorade Canada.

Received this standard answer from Gatorade Canada:

Hi Karen: Thank you for giving us the chance to address your concerns. We'd like you to know that Milk is one of the top nine allergens. If a Gatorade product has any of the top nine allergens it will be listed in the ingredients an also have an allergy warning. Both the Canadian regs and our own internal policies require that we declare an allergen if it is in the products. Doesn't matter what that product is. If there is no declarable allergen then we don't have anything in the ingredient line. We hope this information on our allergy policy is helpful, Karen.
Sincerely,
Michael
PepsiCo Canada
Consumer Relations
http://www.gatorade.ca/

Obviously this Consumer Relations person is not aware that Canadian Regs do not say that milk has to be listed as an ingredient, currently.

From Gatorade USA

Karen:

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns about Gatorade Recover. Please accept our apologies for the delay in our response. We're very aware of the seriousness of food allergies, including milk, and we take every possible precaution to keep our consumers safe.

The source of protein in G Series Gatorade Recover 03 is whey protein. While much of the production line is the same as that used for Gatorade Thirst Quencher, the portion of the line that produces Recover 03 is separate from the rest of the production equipment.

Our first priority is the quality and integrity of our products, so we maintain an allergen management program in order to avoid any crossover of the G Series Gatorade Recover 03 milk ingredient. Following a changeover to run a different product, we have tested the shared portion of the line to ensure that any trace of milk protein has been cleared from the system.

I hope this information is helpful, Karen. We want to provide the most accurate information to our consumers so they can make informed choices.

Dan
Gatorade Consumer Relations

I first heard about Gaterade adding milk from Kids With Food Allergies the topic came up on their forums, however I am not a paid member. I only get their free newsletters, so I did not read the details of the post.

The Word Milk

There is a Facebook Group called "They Don't Got Milk" the group was created to remove the word "milk" from non dairy milks. They want "rice milk" changed to "rice beverage" and so on. What do you think?

The Facebook group is run by The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) Part of their slogan is Milk comes from cows, not plants! Show your support for real dairy.

They are not against alternative beverages directly, they want "milk" to be only used for mammal milk not plant based milks. They have even suggested "imitation milk" for rice milks.

People with allergies tend to have two reactions either rice milk, soy milk, cows milk it's all the used the same way, just the plant based milks don't cause allergic reactions. What next they will want next, to own the term "cry over spilt milk"?

Other people feel that situations like people saying "He's drinking milk, I thought he was allergic", then explaining no it's rice milk not cow's milk, would be easier, with terms like soy alternative beverages.

The National Milk Producers also want names like cheese and yogurt to be removed from "vegan cheese", "vegan yogurt" or "dairy free yogurts"

What Ingredients

Allergic families, and individuals, are still fighting with manufactures to label foods properly not only do they not reveal cross contamination risks, or hide milk under other names, but sometimes they just plain don't label anything. Here is a quote "MADE IN CANADA FROM DOMESTIC AND IMPORTED INGREDIENTS" no hint what these ingredients may be at all, anywhere on the package.

I questioned the manager why he had such products, drawing his attention to allergic families. He brought out the box, they came in that I could read the ingredients from. He was confused, as if not to understand my suggestion that he send them back. He agreed that the packages should have ingredients, but refused the idea of sending them back.

Campbells Food Labeling

The following article has been circulating in the allergy community
Campbell Recognized for Food Allergy Awareness Efforts

From the article:
Campbell Soup Company was recently honored by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) for its commitment to food allergy safety, awareness and education.

At its Annual Patient Conference in Baltimore, Md., FAAN recognized Campbell with a Special Achievement Award for introducing a new and innovative scanning technology in its plants to improve allergen labeling on its products. Campbell helped develop the strategy for a Vision System to scan product manufacturing codes and ensure that they match UPC codes on the product labels.

Note these links on Cambpbells American site:
USA Allergen Labeling Code of Commitment
USA Gluten Free information

In September 2009 I contacted Campbells Soup, I asked them twice why they provide allergy information on their American site, but not their Canadian site (they added gluten free after my e-mail), they did not acknowledge this e-mail question, they did however answer my question regarding allergens, but not completely regarding cross contamination.

From: campbellsoup@casupport.com

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009

we received your message and appreciate your taking the time to contact Campbell Soup Company. Please be assured your comments and concerns have been forwarded to our Web Design Team.

The Campbell Soup Company follows all government regulations regarding the labeling of our products. In the case of the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, wheat, soy and shellfish) we list those ingredients in the product ingredient statement, no matter how small the amount might be. We do not include any of those items under the broader listings of "spices" or "natural flavors". We recommend that consumers always check the ingredient statement and evaluate the product based on the statement.

In regards to possible cross contact between products, we use an extensive and effective sanitation procedure in between different processing operations, and efforts are made to prevent any possible cross contact to the greatest practical extent.

They now have gluten information on their Canadian site Gluten Free Information

Vegans and Milk Allergy

Vegans choose not to consume milk for one or more of the following reasons: environmental, health and ethical reasons. Vegan products are often made on the same machinery as milk (meat or egg) products. Their are also some totally vegan factories who only use milk free equipment. Vegan Outreach has some dangerous (to the milk allergy crowd) ideas.

They are against cleaning equipment for people with milk allergies.
They are misinforming people about cross contamination labeling (both Canada and US)
They do not mention that products that say "dairy free", made on equipment with dairy (with or with or without cleaning), contain milk protein residue that may be fine for vegans, but not those with severe milk allergies.


What about 99% vegan?

Sometimes a product will be labeled as vegan but also be labeled as “99% dairy free.” What is usually going on here is that this product is being made on machines that are also used to make products with dairy. Thus there might be residual dairy on the machinery. Because some people have severe allergies to milk, the company cannot claim that the product is dairy-free. The alternative is for them to steam-clean their machinery before running the carob chips. This would not do anything to advance the cause of veganism – no fewer animals would be exploited. To the contrary, it would increase the costs of the chips, making the vegan product appear less appealing to the general consumer.


To be clear, I believe most vegans do not want to poison people with milk allergies. I understand why almost all vegans consume products on the same lines as milk. I also support milk free lines, rooms, and factories over cleaning lines, for the milk allergic.

See List of Vegan Blogs for vegan information and recipes. Some of these vegan blogs are written by people with allergies.

Health Canada

Will Health Canada listen to us?

Allergen labeling laws are being reviewed. The Consultations on Precautionary Labelling of Food Allergens, have happened in many cities across Canada.

People have filled in questions on cross contamination needs on Health Canada's website, we have talked to Representatives of Health Canada, we have attended meetings. We have been protesting for years.

Food manufacturers both "naughty and nice" have slowed down clear labelling laws others are more open. Health Canada will not tell us the names of the "naughty" manufactures who are slowing clear labeling laws in Canada.

Long time ago Health Canada promised us a clear allergy labeling law by 2002, we remember this, we know the countries that have clear labelling laws, we know how long the law has been in the works in Canada.

I visited Health Canada on Twitter I scanned their posts, I didn't see any posts on food allergen labelling. For that matter Health Canada are not even following any allergy organizations, or groups.

Health Canada

Health Canada will have the following workshops, in tandem with on line surveys.

Health Canada will beholding workshops on precautionary labeling, link. You can also E-mail in your concerns.

Halifax Nov 23 2009
Toronto Nov 25 2009
Vancouver Nov 30 2009
Edmonton Dec 02 2009
Winnipeg Dec 04 2009
Ottawa Dec 10 2009
Montreal Dec 09 2009



They are asking for individuals, organizations as well as stakeholders such as manufactures to participate. I once asked a Health Canada representative for a list of manufactures who are slowing down the clear labelling law in Canada, I was refused, although they admitted it would be fair to give it to me.

I wonder if the manufactures (who do not want to be allergy aware) will have the nerve to participate with the organisations such as allergy support groups in these workshops.

We were promised clear labelling law by 2008, now they will not promise anything. Interestingly in Ontario students in Grade Five are expected to learn how a Canadian law is made, from bill to law. Would Health Canada pass Grade Five?

Italian Home Bakery

Italian Home Bakery

Has changed it's Allergy warning despite no increased risk to allergic consumers.

New Warning: "IHB used ingredients which contain wheat or it's derivatives, and soy or it's derivatives. Some products may also contain sesame seeds and / or milk or it's derivatives.

I E-mailed them about their new warning, response:

Thank you for writing us with your concern. All of our products are made on milk and dairy-free lines (this is because our plant is Kosher). Our production for cheese buns is separate and isolated to prevent cross contamination. Our advisory label is on our packaging as it is mandated from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Labeling division because we have a milk product in our plant.

Please rest assured that our breads are milk and dairy free unless otherwise noted.

Thank you again for writing us and please let us know if you have any further questions.

Dennis Rossetti
President, Chief Operations Officer
Italian Home Bakery Ltd

MY Response

I attended an allergy convention where a representative from Health Canada spoke "may contain statements" are not mandated by Health Canada, and even if the new labelling law passes in Canada "may contain statements" at most will be an amendment to be added later to a law that has not passed.

Please consider rewriting your Allergy Advisory stating that milk is used in a separate area if you really want to include may contain milk in your advisory.

More notes:
Also note not all Kosher plants keep their lines separate. See also Dairy Free Bread

Canadian Food Inspection Agency:
Questions and Answers regarding the labelling of food allergens and the use of precationary statements

Vegan Cake

My husband and child brought home a vegan cake made by Sweets from the earth. The Dairy-Free Chocolate Cheesecake was good. We have had their cakes before

I noticed the cake packaging had changed it had a sticker that said "Now Baked in a facility that is nut free". The website however still says that items may be cross contaminated with nuts. Under Ingredients it says "Baked in a facility that uses wheat and tree nuts." Dairy is the only allergy in our house, for the sake of nut allergic vegans or those with both nut and milk allergies I hope they figure this out.

UPDATE I recieved this E-mail:

To answer your questions, we put the stickers on the boxes. Up until three months ago, we produced all of our products in one facility.

We recently opened up a second facility, and it is completely nut free. We continue to produce our nut products at our original facility (which is now also dedicated gluten –free). So yes, we do make products with nuts, but they are made in a separate facility. We still have quite a bit packaging left from before we made this transition, so rather than waste it, we put the stickers on so that people will know we are now producing these items in a nut free facility.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.

Best regards,

Ilana Kadonoff

Labelling Laws

Allergic Living reports another delay on plain labelling, when it comes to food labels.

Currently in Canada you can not hide nuts in products you have to use plain language in ingredient listing such as (nuts, peanuts, walnuts, tree nut).

However when it comes to milk you can use terms (Lactofern, whey, casein, enriched wheat flour, natural flavours) to hide milk. In fact Health Canada allows manufactures to make up more terms link to hide milk in products.

Canada was the first country to introduce plain language labelling laws, yet does not have them yet, unlike United States, many parts of Europe, Australia and New Zealand.


Health Canada reviews law again link

It sounds like Health Canada is ready to allow exceptions for manufactures to hide things like milk, soy and "non big eight" corn in fruit and vegetable waxes. They also want to allow manufactures to hide allergens in alcohol. This is all IF we ever get plain language labelling laws. Who wants this delayed?

Let me give the example of Trident Gum, in the States after ingredients it says Allergy warning: contains milk, on packages that contain milk. None of the packages in Canada says that we allergic consumers are supposed to know that Recaladent is a milk derivative. Trident Gum is a small example and one of many.

I'm finished my rant, put your rants in the comment section readers.

May Contain

There is a lot of debate over food labeling, and ingredients and may contain statements.

I got a kick out of this one from Guardian Angel Foods No peanuts, No Nuts, No dairy, No Eggs “May contain traces of happiness” Guardian Angel Foods allergen - free desserts.

Nut Free Bakeshops

Dairy Free Bakeshops

We have all debated or questioned may contain statements. Some have written letters, or signed petitions. I like “May contain traces of happiness”

Labeling allergies and "rules"

Here are just a hand full of food labeling laws, and guides from around the world.

It is always up to you to decide what is safe.

Canadian Food inspection Agency Precautionary Labeling for Allergens

Health Canada Government of Canada Announces Proposed New Labeling Requirements to Protect Health of Canadians

Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act 2004 USA

Food Standards Australia New Zealand Labelling Issues

Food Standards Agency UK Food allergen labeling

European Public Health Alliance Food labeling in the EU: purposes principles and challenges