Dear Readers:

I was going to put this up in comments in response to a comment this morning, but I decided to post it here instead, to clarify my stance on warnings on food labels.

Dear Anonymous:

Thank you for your comments. First of all, I want to stress that I think these warnings SHOULD be there. And I realize that in listing these statements, it is actually hurting sales for these manufacturers. This is why some of them are choosing to REMOVE the warning. However, all food manufacturers are businesses, and though the health of their consumers may be very important to them, one can not deny that they also employ lawyers who put policy into place to protect them from lawsuits. This does not take away from the fact that these labels help consumers. But in researching this subject, it has become clear to me that there is absolutely no regulation in place, and there needs to be. Every product should list a detailed, regulated disclosure, explaining exactly what type of manufacturing practices are used... Dedicated Plant, Dedicated Line, GMP, HACCP? And I believe we need to educate people in the food allergy community on what these terms mean so they can make informed decisions about what they feel is safe for them, or their children. I think the Perky's label is the best I've seen so far. But as I said, there is no regulation, no common language in place, like we have for the FALCPA. I'M ON YOUR SIDE. Like you, I think it's a great service to people with life-threatening allergies, or parents of those with life-threatening allergies, and would never suggest removing the warning. The health of the people in the food allergy community is extremely important to me, and my book sales mean nothing (and fyi, if you knew how little money I've made off of 4 years of continuous work on this book, you might think I'm insane to keep devoting so much of my time to it!). I keep up this blog because helping people is important to me, and I am saddened to hear you think I am so selfish as to want people's health endangered for the furtherment of my cookbook.

Have you read the new labeling information on the Allergygrocer.com? It's quite fascinating. I highly recommend it.

all the best,

Cybele