5 ms·

Sesame Scheme: Unintended Consequences of Allergen Food Labeling

57 points by hilux 1y ago

NaOH 1y ago
Related: FDA warns top U.S. bakery not to claim foods contain allergens when they don't - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40797790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40797790 - July 2024 (580 comments)
- hilux 1y ago
  As an immigrant to the U.S., I am glad that the U.S. has better protections for the public than some other countries (although inferior to the EU), AND I think that the current legally fraught situation is insane and untenable, both for companies who must obey an insane thicket of regs and laws (which drives them to constantly decrease "quality" and add sugar), and for the supposedly chronically ill almost everybody.
  - CGMthrowaway 1y ago
    Who downvoted you so hard and why?
    - hilux 1y ago
      As so often, people who didn't read the article, and whose religious beliefs I must have offended.
  - jmpman 1y ago
    Just got back from a European vacation. Noticed that each restaurant had an extensive allergen list on the menu. Around 15 individual allergens were called out, and labeled next to each it, with an index typically on the back page of the menu. New to the system, we found that crustaceans were a 3 in Spain and France, but in Italy, they were a 2 in some restaurants and a different number in others. The index was always written in the local language. So, if you lived in one region, and knew you had an allergy to “5” (whatever that might be), when you go to another region, if you blindly just avoid items with a “5”, you could still get unintentionally poisoned. The EU really missed an opportunity to standardize the numbering system, and may have caused more harm than good.
    - hilux 1y ago
      That's interesting and unexpected. I wonder whether these were restaurants that cater to primarily to locals, or to tourists.
focusedone 1y ago
This impacted my family directly. A family member has a severe sesame allergy. Honestly we weren't aware people could be allergic to sesame before we found ourselves in the hospital after a severe reaction. Shortly after the hospital incident and after much time spent scrutinizing every ingredient label the law changed. We were excited about this at first. It became much easier to identify things we couldn't have in the house. The unfortunate side effects of the law were most visible in the bread aisle, where nearly every item now contains sesame. This included all of the store brands and most of the brand-name products. Initially, we were limited to only one brand of bread (shout out to Kings Hawaiian). We also found a few artisan / local boutique options we could trust, but that's a pretty expensive way to make a PB&J. Our situation has improved a bit. Recently a second, slightly less expensive, name brand sandwich bread went sesame-free. We're still stuck with oddly expensive artisanal hotdog buns. Why are the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's just weird that way. Anyway, I expect that eventually more brands will go sesame-free as recipes change and factories go through whatever update process where it makes sense to separate allergens. We're still happy about the regulation change and how easy it is now to identify dangerous items. Seeing global brands add sesame to a product to avoid whatever cost necessary to change their process was...not endearing. Hopefully their share price went up a few cents I guess.
- Spivak 1y ago
  > Why are the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's just weird that way. How very dare you. They're the superior cut and it's appalling side cut even exists. To answer your question though it's because that cut originates from New England and is used for "higher end" foods like lobster rolls. So they're perceived as fancier. But they're just objectively better. Side cut buns are uneven which makes sense for a sandwich where you a thicker top bun but is utterly ridiculous for a top facing slice. Can you imagine a taco where one half of the tortilla was like three times as thick? Like look at this https://imgur.com/tF9uBp7 https://imgur.com/tF9uBp7 — absurd. That little flappy thing just falls apart. Also the flat part of the roll is at the bottom so when you top cut your hot dog can stand upright on the plate and not fall over. Typically the sides of top cut rolls are also flat which makes grilling/toasting the roll much easier. You get a delicious crispy buttery on the outside fluffy on the inside roll.
wpollock 1y ago
> Strikingly, media reports indicated that some food manufacturers began adding sesame to products that previously did not contain the ingredient following the implementation of the new allergen labeling requirements (Aleccia, 2022; Chatman, 2023; Hughes, et al., 2023). I have to wonder if they really started adding sesame, or just began accurate labeling?
- lozenge 1y ago
  Yes, they added sesame. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/fare-responds-companies-intentionally-adding-sesame-flour-faster-act-goes-effect https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/fare-responds-companie... Edit: I mean, it's also in the linked article! Just keep reading!
  - wpollock 1y ago
    I should have known better than to doubt a random article I read on the Internet, how silly of me, sorry.
- pdpi 1y ago
  Really started adding. This is the key quote: Second, we document that, following the enactment of the federal law, some food manufacturers engaged in risk mitigation by adding small amounts of sesame to products that previously did not contain the ingredient. Doing so allowed firms to use the safe harbor provided by the allergen labeling rule rather than the ambiguous and non-protective “may contain” precautionary labeling. This was most observed in the breads and buns category, products for which the prevention of cross-contamination may have been more challenging and the likelihood of a recall or litigation higher.
- dylan604 1y ago
  I also wondered if they didn't just start labeling as such since they couldn't guarantee that things didn't get contaminated with sesame. "This product is made in a facility where sesame is used"...even if we didn't use sesame in this product being the unwritten part.

57 points by hilux 1y ago

NaOH 1y ago

Related: FDA warns top U.S. bakery not to claim foods contain allergens when they don't - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40797790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40797790 - July 2024 (580 comments)

hilux 1y ago
As an immigrant to the U.S., I am glad that the U.S. has better protections for the public than some other countries (although inferior to the EU), AND I think that the current legally fraught situation is insane and untenable, both for companies who must obey an insane thicket of regs and laws (which drives them to constantly decrease "quality" and add sugar), and for the supposedly chronically ill almost everybody.
- CGMthrowaway 1y ago
  Who downvoted you so hard and why?
  - hilux 1y ago
    As so often, people who didn't read the article, and whose religious beliefs I must have offended.
- jmpman 1y ago
  Just got back from a European vacation. Noticed that each restaurant had an extensive allergen list on the menu. Around 15 individual allergens were called out, and labeled next to each it, with an index typically on the back page of the menu. New to the system, we found that crustaceans were a 3 in Spain and France, but in Italy, they were a 2 in some restaurants and a different number in others. The index was always written in the local language. So, if you lived in one region, and knew you had an allergy to “5” (whatever that might be), when you go to another region, if you blindly just avoid items with a “5”, you could still get unintentionally poisoned. The EU really missed an opportunity to standardize the numbering system, and may have caused more harm than good.
  - hilux 1y ago
    That's interesting and unexpected. I wonder whether these were restaurants that cater to primarily to locals, or to tourists.

focusedone 1y ago

This impacted my family directly. A family member has a severe sesame allergy. Honestly we weren't aware people could be allergic to sesame before we found ourselves in the hospital after a severe reaction. Shortly after the hospital incident and after much time spent scrutinizing every ingredient label the law changed. We were excited about this at first. It became much easier to identify things we couldn't have in the house. The unfortunate side effects of the law were most visible in the bread aisle, where nearly every item now contains sesame. This included all of the store brands and most of the brand-name products. Initially, we were limited to only one brand of bread (shout out to Kings Hawaiian). We also found a few artisan / local boutique options we could trust, but that's a pretty expensive way to make a PB&J. Our situation has improved a bit. Recently a second, slightly less expensive, name brand sandwich bread went sesame-free. We're still stuck with oddly expensive artisanal hotdog buns. Why are the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's just weird that way. Anyway, I expect that eventually more brands will go sesame-free as recipes change and factories go through whatever update process where it makes sense to separate allergens. We're still happy about the regulation change and how easy it is now to identify dangerous items. Seeing global brands add sesame to a product to avoid whatever cost necessary to change their process was...not endearing. Hopefully their share price went up a few cents I guess.

Spivak 1y ago
> Why are the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's just weird that way. How very dare you. They're the superior cut and it's appalling side cut even exists. To answer your question though it's because that cut originates from New England and is used for "higher end" foods like lobster rolls. So they're perceived as fancier. But they're just objectively better. Side cut buns are uneven which makes sense for a sandwich where you a thicker top bun but is utterly ridiculous for a top facing slice. Can you imagine a taco where one half of the tortilla was like three times as thick? Like look at this https://imgur.com/tF9uBp7 https://imgur.com/tF9uBp7 — absurd. That little flappy thing just falls apart. Also the flat part of the roll is at the bottom so when you top cut your hot dog can stand upright on the plate and not fall over. Typically the sides of top cut rolls are also flat which makes grilling/toasting the roll much easier. You get a delicious crispy buttery on the outside fluffy on the inside roll.

wpollock 1y ago

> Strikingly, media reports indicated that some food manufacturers began adding sesame to products that previously did not contain the ingredient following the implementation of the new allergen labeling requirements (Aleccia, 2022; Chatman, 2023; Hughes, et al., 2023). I have to wonder if they really started adding sesame, or just began accurate labeling?

lozenge 1y ago
Yes, they added sesame. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/fare-responds-companies-intentionally-adding-sesame-flour-faster-act-goes-effect https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/fare-responds-companie... Edit: I mean, it's also in the linked article! Just keep reading!
- wpollock 1y ago
  I should have known better than to doubt a random article I read on the Internet, how silly of me, sorry.
pdpi 1y ago
Really started adding. This is the key quote: Second, we document that, following the enactment of the federal law, some food manufacturers engaged in risk mitigation by adding small amounts of sesame to products that previously did not contain the ingredient. Doing so allowed firms to use the safe harbor provided by the allergen labeling rule rather than the ambiguous and non-protective “may contain” precautionary labeling. This was most observed in the breads and buns category, products for which the prevention of cross-contamination may have been more challenging and the likelihood of a recall or litigation higher.
dylan604 1y ago
I also wondered if they didn't just start labeling as such since they couldn't guarantee that things didn't get contaminated with sesame. "This product is made in a facility where sesame is used"...even if we didn't use sesame in this product being the unwritten part.