My son’s food allergies are so severe that even touching a product containing trace amounts of oil from a nut can trigger a life-threatening reaction. This makes it very hard to buy food for him, as many “safe” products are actually processed in machines that have also processed nuts. Even the slightest cross-contamination can send him to the emergency room, or worse. Every time I give my son a new food, I feel as if I am playing roulette with his life. It seems to be nut-free, but did it come into contact with nuts in the plant where it was processed? Could there be residual oils that could hurt him? Requiring manufacturers to use food allergy advisory labeling would go a long way toward relieving this fear.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already requires clear labeling of all ingredients that come from a known food allergen. However, it does not require allergy “advisory” labeling, which would inform us if the food was processed on equipment, or in a plant that also processes allergenic food. This is how cross-contact occurs, and it is responsible for thousands of allergic reactions annually.

Please join me in calling on the FDA to require manufacturers to provide food allergy advisory labeling. It will dramatically lower the incidence of allergic reactions due to  cross-contact, and it will save lives.

Right now, these advisory labels are optional for food producers. There are no laws governing or requiring these statements, so they may or may not indicate if a product contains a specific allergen. The guesswork is left to allergic consumers, often with terrifying results.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies have increased approximately 50% in the last twenty years in the U.S. Now, this potentially deadly condition affects one in every thirteen children -- that’s roughly two in every classroom! The numbers are staggering, and measures need to be taken to ensure the safety of these children.

Every three minutes in the U.S., a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency room. Mandatory allergy advisory labeling would reduce this statistic dramatically, and help protect our children. We cannot afford to rely on the goodwill of these manufacturers to provide this life-saving information.

Please sign my petition calling on the FDA to require manufacturers to provide food allergy advisory labeling when there is a chance of cross-contact. If even the slightest contact could take a life, isn’t it the right thing to do?