Do food manufacturers have a legal responsibility to warn customers about ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction? Here’s what you need to know.

The Eight Major Allergens

Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, wheat, soy, eggs, shellfish, and fish are responsible for 90 percent of food allergies. If a product contains any of these ingredients, the answer is yes – and has been since 2006. That’s when the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) was passed. The law, an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, “requires that the label of a food that contains an ingredient that is or contains protein from a ‘major food allergen’ declare the presence of the allergen in the manner described by the law,” according to the FDA. These eight major allergens make up only a fraction of known food allergens (the FDA identifies more than 160), but because they’re responsible for such a high percentage of allergic reactions, they form the focus of the FALCPA.

FALCPA covers both domestic and imported goods, and also requires that the type of nut (e.g. walnut, almond), the type of shellfish (e.g. lobster, shrimp) and the type of fish (e.g. cod, flounder) found in the product be disclosed.

Gluten-Free Labels

More than three million Americans have celiac disease, an auto-immune disorder that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten is ingested. When someone with celiac disease eats gluten (i.e. pasta, bread, crackers, etc.), serious complications can occur. Because of this, any company that labels its foods “gluten-free” must adhere to strict guidelines. According to the FDA:

The administration now has a gluten-free labeling of foods page to help consumers and manufacturers correctly use the term “gluten-free.”

Some Foods “May Contain”… Absolutely No Meaning

One thing worth looking out for: there’s no regulation of so-called advisory labeling – i.e. that which warns products may contain allergens. This is often done to cover a manufacturer’s back in the case of an allergic reaction by someone who eats their product, though the phrase can be misleading.

A product that states it “may have been produced in a factory that also handles nuts” could just as easily mean the food may have been produced on the same machine as nut products. “May contain” or “may have been produced” labels are not the same as the FDA-regulated warnings. These things can be tricky, and are, in part, a reflection of the changing model of American food production. As manufacturers lose control of their entire supply chain, instead operating on such large scales that they interact with multiple other companies, it becomes harder to legally guarantee that a product has never come into contact with, say, peanuts, or soy protein. Adding a “may contain traces of …” label is one way of providing a warning.

For those with allergies, the safest bet remains to stick with products that follow the FDA’s rules for food allergy warnings. These warnings can be presented in one of two ways: either a “contains” warning label (e.g. “contains wheat,” “contains eggs”) or by placing the common or usual food name after certain ingredients in the ingredient list (e.g. Whey [milk], lecithin [soy], vanilla extract…).

Manufacturers are, in general, more helpful than ever in labeling their foods, and the number of allergen-free foods is also on the rise, partly coming hand-in-hand with the continued rise of the organic movement. Still, FALCPA exists to protect consumers, and if you find foods for sale in the United States that do not have ingredient labels displayed, be warned – that product may be being sold illegally, and there’s no guarantee that it’s allergen-free.