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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a draft guidance encouraging food manufacturers to voluntarily declare sesame in the ingredient list on food labels.
“Many Americans are allergic or sensitive to sesame, and they need the ability to quickly identify products that might contain sesame,” said Susan Mayne, Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “While most products containing sesame declare it as an ingredient, there are times when sesame is not required to be declared by name on the label, such as when it is used as a ‘flavor’ or ‘spice.’ Other ingredients, like ‘tahini,’ are made by grinding sesame into a paste, but not all consumers are aware that tahini is made from sesame. In these instances, sesame may not be declared by name in the ingredient list on a product’s label. We are encouraging food manufacturers to voluntarily list sesame as an ingredient whenever a product has been made with sesame.”
On Oct. 30, 2018, the FDA issued a notice inviting data and information on the occurrence and severity of sesame allergies in the U.S. and the prevalence of sesame-containing foods in the U.S. that are not required to disclose sesame as an ingredient. While the exact frequency of sesame allergies in the U.S. is unknown, it is estimated in some recent studies to...
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