Common Food Labeling Misconceptions- Buyer Beware!

But also shop with a healthy dose of common sense and evidence based advice!

Common Misconceptions:

• Risk of contamination can be stratified based on the Precautionary Allergy Labeling (PAL) terminology used, such as “made in a facility” or “shared lines”. FALSE! The exact PAL term on the food label CANNOT be used to stratify risk
• Once a food with PAL is tolerated, it is always safe to eat. There may be batch-to-batch differences in the level of contamination of the same product
• Risk of contamination is the same for all foods. Food at the highest risk of contamination are thought to include chocolate candies, cookies/biscuits, cereal/trail bars, nut mixes, baked goods/baking mixes, confectionary, and ice cream with chocolate candies from Europe at a much higher risk of contamination than the USA
• All patients should avoid all products bearing PAL at all times. Although there is clearly not a zero risk of reaction of consuming these foods, patients should be informed of the ambiguity of using these PAL terms and of foods at the highest risk of contamination. The decision of whether these foods are eaten or avoided should be based on the discussion between the physician and family/patient

https://www.jaci-inpractice.org/article/S2213-2198(18)30714-1/pdf