Chicago Tribune Investigates Inaccurate Allergen Warnings

Last week the Chicago Tribune ran a fascinating article about mislabeling of supposedly allergen-free foods (Children at risk in food roulette: Mislabeling, lax oversight threaten people with allergies). Among the newspaper's findings:

• Roughly five products a week are recalled because of hidden allergens
• One-third of all products recalled for hidden allergens are cookies, candy, ice cream or snacks
• Of all product recalls for hidden allergens since 1998, only 53% were announced to the public

While researching its article, the Tribune sent multiple samples of products that were supposedly free of allergens -- including products labeled as gluten-free -- to a food-allergy lab. In several cases, products labeled as gluten-free contained gluten. Sadly, the article cites many examples of children having severe allergic reactions to products that falsely claimed to be free of wheat, milk, eggs, or other allergens.

The Tribune has created a remarkable online database of all allergy-related food recalls by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture over a 10-year period -- about 2,800 total. The database lets you search all allergy-related food recalls from the last 10 years by product, allergen, recalling firm, kind of food, and recall area.