Well I took things for granted. I thought that companies were required by law to label the top 8 allergens as well as the risk of cross contamination, (ie "shared equipment", "shared facility", "may contain".) WRONG! They are only required by law to label the top 8 allergens (milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shell fish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans).
All this time when I read packages without anything referring to the statements above, I thought the food was safe. For all we know it could be, but there is a big chance that's it's not. Maybe we've been lucky so far. I know a few FA mom who are diligent about contacting companies about the risk of cross contamination and share their findings. Most say e-mail works best as you can get it in writing.
In light of this I have been digging to find the exact laws concerning food labels. It's not hard to find, but in true government form it's not all easy to decipher. He are some helpful links I found. I asked some other FA moms for a reference with a simple explanation, and the 1st one listed is what they sent me.
Kids With Food Allergies
FDA
I'm feeling pretty defeated this week. My lack of knowledge could have put my son's life at risk. That is not a good feeling. I know I shouldn't beat my self up over this, but I'm a mom and that's what we do when we think we aren't doing are very best. I feel so bad I didn't do all my research. Going forward you can bet that I will be contacting any company I feel is not including cross contamination warnings and becoming even more brand loyal to the ones that do.
