<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I'm writing to report on the FDA hearing on the "Presence and Labeling of
Allergens in Foods" which took place in the Cohen building on Capitol Hill
yesterday.

It was great to be a part of democracy in action.  The day started opening
remarks and a congressional update by a legislative assistant for Nita Lowey
(more below).  This was followed by the bulk of the proceedings: panel
discussions on the three areas under consideration by two consumer
representatives and two industry representatives, with the panelists being
questioned by representatives of the FDA.  There was also a presentation on
an FDA/Minnesota and Wisconsin food allergen partnership which involved
inspections and testing of samples from various food manufacturing
facilities and showed the extent of cross contamination of products, but
also demonstrated how the FDA and states and manufacturers can work
together.

The last couple of hours of the day were devoted to the public input.  I was
so glad to see a significant turnout of celiacs- we are being heard.  By my
count, we were more than 25% of the speakers (they said that 30 of the
people who signed up spoke and 8 of the speakers were celiacs, one less than
signed up).  The process will be slow- information gathering is all the FDA
has planned for this year- but the FDA didn't believe regulations would slow
down the process as the industry people on the panel intimated. Whether to
continue with voluntary compliance or to codify with regulations may be
decided by the fate of the legislation being introduced by Nita Lowey in the
House and Teddy Kennedy in the Senate (see below).

For those who wanted to participate in the hearing but couldn't attend, you
can still send written comments to the docket until Oct. 29.  These comments
may be any length and are not restricted to the narrow topics of the
hearing.  You may ask that the regulations be extended to include gluten
from rye and barley as well as wheat, for instance, and for the wording
"gluten free" or "contains gluten," whereas the agenda on the table was
restricted to wheat and the other 7 major allergens.  The address for  your
comments is:

    Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305)
    Food and Drug Administration
    5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061
    Rockville, MD 20852.

(Note Docket OOP-1322 on the envelope- and in your letter).

You may also send comments to [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>  or at
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/commentdocket.
cfm <http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/commentdocket.cfm

> .

The above info (and the background and content of what the FDA is
considering re: labeling can be found in the Federal Register Notice at
http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/072501b.pdf
<http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/072501b.pdf>

In addition, as mentioned above, legislation to mandate better food
labeling is being introduced after the August recess in both the House
and the Senate simultaneously.  Please write to your legislators to ask
them to cosponsor this legislation.  A sample letter can be found at
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/food_allergen_legislation
<http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/food_allergen_legislation> .  I've
already written to my congresspeople but intend to write again to urge
the addition of a request for funds to allow enforcement/oversight by
the FDA.  A figure of  $10MM additional funding being needed was put
forth at the hearing yesterday.  Currently FDA inspections are rare for
lack of funds.

Thank you-

Mary Thorpe/Baltimore, MD