To Comply With a New Sesame Allergy Law, Some Businesses Add — Sesame
14th April 2023
Scouring the labels of what their children had eaten, both mothers were horrified to discover that sesame was now listed as an ingredient in the cheeseburger, the bread and other baked products that had previously been sesame-free. “I’d been unknowingly poisoning [Mia] for several weeks,” said McDermott, who lives in Philadelphia.
What happened? On Jan. 1, a law intended to safeguard the more than 1.5 million Americans with a sesame allergy — including the McDermott and Tibbs children (and, full disclosure, my son as well) — took effect. The law mandates, among other things, careful cleaning to prevent cross-contact between food products with and without sesame.
In a twist few would have expected, however, many food companies have chosen to add small amounts of sesame flour to products that were previously sesame-free, instead of conducting the careful cleaning required for foods without sesame.
The result? Foods that sesame-allergic kids and adults have eaten safely for years are now potentially life-threatening.
Proglodyte regulators always believe that people will just comply with their rules and not figure out a way around them. That old Law of Unintended Consequences bites people–other than the regulators, of course–on the butt again.