Over time, I have developed the habit of reading ingredient labels and scanning for allergens my son is sensitive to. Even my son starts to recognize the importance of labels and asks other people to check the wrappers for him. Because of our educational background in the life sciences, my husband and I have never had problems figuring out the terms; we knew that casein is a milk protein, and albumin is a potential allergen from eggs. I can imagine that not everyone knows those tidbits of critical information, though. And luckily, the FDA agrees.

Starting this year, food manufacturers are mandated to write their labels in plain language.

Manufacturers have two options for declaring the presence of these food substances in foods. One is to add a "contains" statement next to the ingredient list that identifies the types of allergenic foods contained in the product; for example, "contains milk and wheat." The other option is to place the food source in parentheses next to ingredients derived from one of the eight potential offending foods classes, such as sodium caseinate (milk), albumin (egg).
In the case of nuts and seafood, the new law requires that the specific type of nut (e.g., peanuts, almonds, cashews) or species of fish (e.g., cod, bass) or shellfish (shrimp, lobster) be specified. Also, the presence of such ingredients must be listed even if they are contained only in colorings, flavoring agents or spice blends used in the product.

Now, doesn't that make it all simpler?

Just a reminder, though, it will still take some time before ALL the products you see on the shelves bear these new labels since the new law only took effect in January this year. Next in line will be the "gluten-free" labels, but that may have to wait til 2008 to be fully implemented.

Read the full article from CSU: Plain language on labels now required for eight top allergens.