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As a 64 year old CELIAC who has experienced labeling problems for over 35
years, I believe my experiences parallel that of all who suffer food
allergies or worse food intolerances. Our biggest problem by far is the fact
that manufacturers of proprietary recipes such as flavorings and additives
are not required by law to disclose their ingredients. We all respect the
right of a manufacturer to protect his valuable recipe but something is
needed to protect our rights as end users, when in many cases it is life
threatening. Most of us just give up and refuse to buy processed food of any
type for fear of getting poisoned. This works, but severely limits our food
choices. I believe there is a solution to this dilemma but I haven't got any
idea on how to execute it. Maybe there is someone out there who has a
methodology for implementation of this idea?
Anyway, here is the idea. Food Alergies and Intolerances are suffered by
millions of Americans. Since there are eight (8) allergic foods which cause
over 90 percent of the problems, identification of these foods on the label
is all that most of us need. If the labeling law could be modified to
require that all labels show a graphic picture for each of each of the
offending foods then the majority of us would be happy. By requiring those
having proprietary rights to also show these labels, the specific quantities
of each ingredient are respected as they should be. Potential eaters of
these foods would simply look at the graphic and if it contained one of the
eight offending foods then, then their choice would be simple, don't eat it.
For this idea to work, even the most insignificant quantities of the
offending food would have to be on the label. For example, most ice creams
for sale today contain mono and diglycerides, a product of gluten and also a
no-no for wheat allergy/intolerant folks. For this new labeling law to work
the fact that the origin of this product (mono and dyglcerides) came from a
gluten containing raw product, must also be shown on the label.
Summarizing, a graphic picture of any one of the eight offending foods,
placed on the label (and big enough to be easily seen) will allow easy
identification.
As CELIAC's, for example, we would avoid pictures of a grain of wheat. We
might also want to avoid a picture of milk and/or sugar for lactose and
refined sugar intolerances. By the way, the eight offending foods are milk,
wheat, peanut, soy, tree nuts, fish and shellfish as quoted by the Food
Allergy Network, FAN, also on the internet.
I hope this idea is picked up by some enterprising member and modified to
something that can be workable by the industry. We really need some new ideas.
Jerry Walter
P.S. The post office would also be required to put a wheat graphic on every
stamp they produce with a qluten derived glue. This seems silly but it
really is necessary to keep the population informed of potential poisions.
Thank the lord for self sticking stamps. We must remember that anything that
touches our lips has the potential of making us sick.
P.S.2 Thanks again to all of the listowners for making this lifesaving
service available to the planent earths population. I predict that food
allergies/intolerances will become the health discovery mechanism for the
21st Century.