One of the more common food allergy questions that I get is what to make of labels that say "may contain traces of...." or "made on equipment shared with products that contain...." Of course, you can't really tell what these statement mean because the situation can vary so much from one place or product to another. Now there is finally a small study on this exact issue.
U.S. News reported this month that a study has finally ascertained what was suspected all along - that some of these products do in fact contain a food allergen. They went on to blame smaller companies, which I think is unfortunate and probably has as much to do with volume as it does quality control. Big companies produce gigantic amounts of a product, reducing the potential for an allergen to show up in it even if it is made on shared equipment. It is simply a matter of statistical probability. But it's still useful information.
However, the bottom line is that the more processed food that you eat, the more likely you it is that you will ingest something that you didn't intend to ingest. Processed food simply isn't as healthy as whole food, no matter how you slice it.
To read the article visit http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/16/food-allergy-labeling-not-always-accurate.html
1 comments:
WOW!! Thanks for the 'heads up'. Cross contamination during processing may explain my ongoing symptoms. I kept experiencing intermittent cramping pain, just like my reaction to soy. So, after reading your comment, I looked through my 'processed foods' ... Sure enough, the Annie's dressings bottle label says 'processed in a facility which also processes ... soy ..." etc. That's my only processed food suspect. So I'll have to make my own salad dressings from now on. I don't know any other dressings made in factories which don't make soy laden dressings.
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