IV
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 309
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding strategies
to better protect millions of Americans with food allergies from poten-
tially fatal allergic reactions, and to further assure the safety of manufac-
tured food from inadvertent allergen contamination.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 28, 1999
Mrs. MORELLA submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing strategies to better protect millions of Americans
with food allergies from potentially fatal allergic reac-
tions, and to further assure the safety of manufactured
food from inadvertent allergen contamination.
Whereas up to 5.2 million Americans have potentially lethal
food allergies, and the incidence is increasing yearly;
Whereas an estimated 125 deaths per year result from fatal
allergic reactions to food in the United States;
Whereas the majority of those affected by food allergies are
children, but the most serious allergies—peanuts, shell-
fish, fish, and tree nuts—are lifelong;
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Whereas eight major allergens—peanuts, tree nuts, fish,
shellfish, eggs, milk, soy, and wheat—comprise 90 per-
cent of allergic reactions;
Whereas at present no vaccine or allergy injection treatment
exists for serious food allergies—only a lifetime of abso-
lute avoidance of the allergen prevents potentially fatal
anaphylactic reaction;
Whereas the expectation of a safe food supply for all is an
American right;
Whereas the prevalence and seriousness of food allergies is
well-known and documented to the food manufacturing
and processing industry;
Whereas potentially fatal allergen ingredients may actually be
introduced into the manufacturing process by the prac-
tice of ‘‘sharing’’ production lines with allergen and non-
allergen containing products, a practice typically un-
known to the consumer, and that this dangerous practice
is avoidable;
Whereas the current practice of labeling foods for potential
allergens is helpful, but not a substitute for preventing
the contamination of the product in the first place, and
is of no benefit to a child or adult consuming a contami-
nated product which is not in its factory wrapper, or
while in a restaurant or another home; and
Whereas previous threats to the public safety and confidence
as a result of product tampering and poisonings have al-
ready set a precedent for undertaking improvements in
manufacturing processes to better protect the American
public from similarly grave and preventable risk, and at
acceptable cost: Now, therefore, be it
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Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) major commercial food processors and pro-
ducers should resolve to the greatest extent possible
to produce products containing key life-threatening
allergens on separate, dedicated manufacturing lines;
(2) labelled ingredient listings, such as ‘‘natural
flavors’’ or ‘‘vegetable protein’’ or other similar
terms, should specify their allergenic ingredients
clearly by name if those ingredients are key aller-
gens (e.g., ‘‘Natural flavors (includes peanuts)’’);
(3) allergens should be identified in terms un-
derstandable to average citizens (such as ‘‘includes
milk products’’ rather than ‘‘includes casein’’);
(4) foods which are common, life-threatening al-
lergens should not be added gratuitously to products
where their contribution to taste is negligible, and
where their presence would not reasonably be ex-
pected (e.g., shrimp extract in frozen beef teriyaki,
or pecans in packaged raspberry cookies);
(5) industry, consumer, and scientific groups
should voluntarily work together for the purpose of
better educating food industry workers and the pub-
lic on the issues of food allergy safety; and
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(6) an assessment of the impact and success of
these initiatives should be made not later than one
year after the date of adoption of this resolution and
reported to the resolution’s sponsors.
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