Food manufacturers not warning of allergens

As much as I harp about the overblown reactions many people have to food allergens, there's one thing I do agree with: Packaged food items should come with food allergy labels.

But a new study just found that a small percentage of food products that contain potential food allergens (such as eggs or peanuts) don't have labels indicating as much.

The study's author was Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He and his team tested nearly 400 products without any food allergy labels. Nineteen products contained food allergens. Of those 19 products, 50 percent of them contained enough of a specific allergen to prompt a reaction in sensitive people.

The labeling of food products for potential allergens falls under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA). This law mandates that products containing the following "major" food allergens must be labeled: eggs, milk, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, crustacean shellfish, soybeans, and any product derived from these.

Just another reason to shop the perimeter of the supermarket, and leave that prepackaged junk food on the shelf-right where it belongs.

Black male kids four times more susceptible to food allergens

This seems to be the week for food allergy research, because a new study has just come out that reveals that black male children are at a greater risk for developing allergies to eggs, milk, peanuts, and shrimp.

About 2.55 percent of the general population has food allergies. Males and children are two times as likely to develop food allergies. Black men and women are three times as likely. But incredibly, this new survey found that black male children were FOUR TIMES more likely to be affected.

The survey reviewed more than 8,000 people of all ages who had tested positive for allergen antibodies. Extrapolating these numbers would meant that as many as one in 10 black male children have food sensitivity to common food allergens such as peanuts and shrimp.

Unfortunately, these are just straight statistics. The scientists don't give any insight as to why black males children seem are so susceptible to food allergens. So, like I said earlier, the perimeter of the supermarket, and it shouldn't be a problem.