New Labeling Laws

[almostnrn]

I have been a bit confused about the new labeling laws. I'm thrilled that Wheat must be labeled as an allergen but does that mean the company has done the research on all of the ingredients (such as source of modified food starch) or just obvious sources of wheat? I guess after years of reading labels and those certain ingredients sending off warning bells I'm still a little skittish about trusting companies to do all of the research and disclose all those hidden sources. Thanks for any information you can provide!

[darlindeb25]

The labeling law states that they must list the 8 main allergens: milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat--yet, that does not mean they must list rye or barley, so watch out for that, it's not generally used in most foods.

Here is a site I posted earlier, take a look: Open Original Shared Link

Also remember that even though the law went into effect early this year, it isn't being totally enforced yet and any of the products produced before 2006 does not need to state the allergens. It's a good law, just not properly put together yet. Calling the company is still your best bet.

[almostnrn]

Thanks for the link Deb! I have not been on the message board as frequently as usual and I had missed that post. It sounds to at least be a step in the right direction!

[Lisa]

In addition, modified food starch, in the US is generally derived from corn.

[RiceGuy]

Well, I still wouldn't trust just any company to be so careful as to know what all their ingredients are made from. We should be able to expect this of a company specializing in gluten-free foods, but the rest don't seem so trustworthy to me. I know some will say Kraft can be trusted to label properly, and maybe that's true, but I'm not going to leap so far as to believe that every Unilever company is going to do the same. It may be the policy of the parent company, but I keep in mind that the farther down the corporate ladder you go, the more people there are to get aligned with company rules. Just think about the company you work for, and those who work in the various departments and such. I have a family member who was actually working for Kraft, and they'd talk about the kinds of things that went on inside the plant itself. They decided never to eat Kraft products, and this is coming from someone whom isn't gluten-free, and does eat junk foods.