A UK survey reveals that just under half of products labeled with a warning ‘may contain’ allergen actually contain no trace of it.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) scrutinized about 1,000 packaged food samples carrying allergy warnings 'may contain X' or 'not suitable for someone with X allergy' .
FSA food allergy research manager Sarah Hardy noted that the number of samples with advisory labeling but no detectable hazelnut or peanut was just below 50%.
The survey found that products with warning labels contained traces of gluten and milk. However, no product contained hazelnut or peanut traces. Even in the products identified with allergens, the levels were very low, said Hardy.
Under the EU law, food manufacturers are required to label 14 allergens, namely pea nuts, tree nuts, soybeans, mustard, eggs, lupin, milk, fish, cereals containing gluten, sesame, celery, sulphur dioxide, mollusks and crustaceans.
FSA, however, observed many variations on the advisory labels. Nearly 38% of the products carried warnings of "may contain traces" while only 28% followed the FSA advice by using 'may contain X' or 'not suitable for someone with X allergy'.
FSA stated: "These variations have led some allergic consumers to believe that different types of advisory statements constitute different levels of risk."
