FDA recommends labeling for food products containing sesame
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The FDA has released draft guidance to recommend — but not require — food manufacturers to declare sesame on products’ ingredients lists.
“Many Americans are allergic or sensitive to sesame, and they need the ability to quickly identify products that might contain sesame,” Susan Mayne, PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a press release issued by the agency.
The recommendation follows the FDA’s 2018 request for information on the prevalence and severity of sesame allergies in the U.S. to help determine whether sesame should be declared as an allergen on food labels.
Research published in JAMA Network Open after the agency’s request estimated that at least 1 million children and adults in the U.S. are affected by sesame allergies.
The FDA said in the press release that while the exact prevalence of this allergy in the U.S. is still unknown, studies suggest it has a frequency of over 0.1%, giving it a similar prevalence to soy and fish allergies.
The FDA noted that manufacturers are required to declare eight major allergens — milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans — on product labels. Although the agency is not adding sesame to the list of allergens legally required to be declared, the draft guideline recommends that manufacturers voluntarily label products containing sesame.
Mayne said that while most products that contain sesame list it as an ingredient, it is not currently required to be listed in instances where it is used as a flavor or spice in other ingredients.
For instance, she said, tahini, an ingredient made by grinding sesame seeds into a paste, is listed as an ingredient on products, but consumers may not be aware that tahini contains sesame.
“In these instances, sesame may not be declared by name in the ingredient list on a product’s label,” Mayne said. “We are encouraging food manufacturers to voluntarily list sesame as an ingredient whenever a product has been made with sesame.”