Issue View | Council I | 2023 Biennial Meeting

This is a brand new Issue.

Companies adding sesame to products previously safe for sesame-allergic

The Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act was a positive change for the allergy community, bringing sesame labeling in line with other top allergens. Unintended consequences of this change have included companies adding small amounts of sesame to their products, rendering them unsafe for those with sesame allergies, which impacts products available for retail sale and those supplied to restaurants.

The purpose of the change in the law was to increase safety for those who are sesame-allergic. However, in response to the changes in the law requiring sesame labeling, manufacturers, including members of major baking organizations, have opted, in some cases, to add sesame flour to products. This action impacts restaurants and retail sales downstream, as once-safe products now pose a life-threatening risk for those with sesame allergies. Some people have multiple allergies, so choices are already limited, and this change has caused great upheaval in the sesame allergy community.

More than a million people in the United States are allergic to sesame, or approximately 0.49% of the population. Many of these individuals have co-morbid allergies and other allergic diseases, such as asthma.

A balanced diet requires the ability to safely eat whole grains in the form of bread, tortillas, crackers, and other products. Severely limiting safe options is not only inconvenient, but it can have harmful effects on health.

We recommend that restaurants and retail organizations that sell bread and related products to consumers communicate with manufacturers that the strategy of adding risk to foods to mitigate risks to avoid the requirements for cross-contact mitigation is not acceptable in a country where approximately 6% of the population has food allergies. Negotiations with major baking companies to introduce sesame-free lines of common products such as bread loaves, hot dog and hamburger buns, crackers, breadcrumbs, etc. should be prioritized. In the short-term, risk communication about product changes should be amplified to avoid potentially fatal outcomes.