Over the last two decades, undeclared allergens have accounted for nearly 45% of all food product recalls. And the numbers are really astonishing. Of the nearly 10,000 food product recalls since the year 2000, over 4,000 were caused by companies failing to disclose the presence of allergens present in their products. Congress has long been concerned about protecting consumers with allergies and have taken recent steps to add further protections and create additional duties for the industry.
Congress has recently passed, and President Biden has recently signed, the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research (“FASTER”) Act. Because Congress was equally concerned about consumers with sesame seed allergies as those susceptible to the current list of “Big 8” allergens. The FASTER Act will soon officially add sesame seed to milk, soy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, fish and shellfish, as the ninth allergen that must be identified in “Contains Statement” on food product labeling.