Kosher Companies Step up Warning on Allergens

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supermarketKosher food manufacturers have stepped up their program to warn consumers about potential allergens. Even horseradish prepared at Brooklyn’s upscale Pomegranate carried a warning about nuts since equipment used to produce the horseradish presumably also was used to prepare foods containing nuts.

A review of some of the products on kosher shelves indicates that there were more warnings on allergens than ever before. One cautionary note came from a new Canadian study. “We should narrow (various allergy labels) to only one which will be clear,” said Dr. Moshe Ben-Shoshan, a professor of allergy and immunology at McGill University Health Center in Montreal, who worked on the study. An estimated 2.5 million Canadians and 15 million Americans suffer from food allergies, which can cause reactions ranging in severity from itchiness and vomiting to breathing problems, loss of consciousness and even death.

Allergy labels are governed in the U.S. by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, and in Canada by the Food Allergen Labeling Regulations, a new version of which will go into effect in August.

{Kosher Today/Matzav.com Newscenter}


3 COMMENTS

  1. Let us remember the tragic story of the little girl with a severe milk allergy in EY who was niftar r”l when her grandmother gave her a cookie marked “parve” which had been prepared on dairy equipment. The OU no longer has a “made on dairy equipment” designation. If it was made on dairy equipment it is marked simply OU-D.

    If these labels asve the life of only one person, it would be worthwhile, but in actuality there are many, many people who will be safer.

  2. I bought ice cream with sprinkle topping, not realizing that all toppings are in open containers near each other. Some walnut pieces from another topping container had fallen into the sprinkles container and it caused a painful and ugly allergic reaction on my lips and tongue. ICE CREAM STORES, PLEASE, KEEP YOUR NUT AND OTHER ALLERGENIC TOPPINGS AWAY AND SEPARATE FROM OTHER TOPPINGS AND CLOSE ALL TOPPING CONTAINERS.

  3. I have severe food allergies. Any person who suffers from food allergies should be responsible for themselves and know that ice cream toppings get mixed together and OU-DE may not be good for you. The ice cream store is not responsible for you, YOU ARE!

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