CBC News – Stricter food label rules target allergens

HUGE Win for the Canadian Food Allergic Population

Food manufacturers have 18 months to adhere to tighter rules dealing with the labelling of food allergens, Health Canada announced Monday.

The amended rules would target food allergens, gluten sources and sulphites, which will have to be explicitly identified on packaging.Manufacturers will be required to list what type of allergens, gluten sources or sulphites are present in a product or in any of the ingredients used to make that product.

For example, a food product that lists “spice” or “seasoning” as an ingredient would have to specify whether the ingredient contains allergenic substances.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Monday the new labelling requirements do not include beer and wine, which are being dealt with separately, because the government needed to move on food now.

The revised rules were first introduced in 2008 by then-health minister Tony Clement.

Most of the new regulations were published officially Monday in the Canada Gazette, the government publication that lists all laws and Orders-in-Council.

Read the full article via CBC News – Politics – Stricter food label rules target allergens.

Health Canada Delays Allergy Labelling

As we reported on in July 2008, Health Canada has proposed new labelling laws. We expected them to be in place by now; but it seems that because they want to make the regulations perfect, it has been delayed until 2010. As reported by Allergic Living, Health Canada received over 140 comments on the new regulation.
The hard part is over; now they just need to put the rules in place. Come Spring 2010, companies will have 12 months to update packaging to adhere to the new regulations.

We’re almost there. It’s been a long time coming.

Health Canada review

Food Allergy Labeling Not Always Accurate

This is quite allarming and why we need to know what companies we can trust. This is also the reason we need to push our governments for stronger labeling laws.

MONDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) — A small number of food products with a “may contain” label actually do contain an allergen, while about 2 percent of foods products without such a claim also contain allergens, new research shows.

 
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Chef Ming Tsai’s Groundbreaking Food Allergy Law Passes in Massachusetts

Massachusetts Chef Ming Tsai helps to pass new regulations to assist restaurant goers with food allergies.

This is a fantastic push to assist people looking for places to eat that are allergy aware.
Some points are that the restaurants are required to post guidelines on preparation of food for visitors with food allergies. As well as informing the visitors to inform the waiting staff that there is someone in the party with food allergies. Educating the staff about food allergies via video is also a new requirement.

There can never bee too much information about this and as we move towards making the public aware that food allergies are more than a “fad” and that there are peoples safety at risk this will help to ensure our families are better taken care of.