According to the US Food and Drug Administration, sesame has joined the list of major food allergens defined by law, which comes as a result of the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research Act, or FASTER Act, which was signed into law back on April 2021.
According to CNN, the FDA has been reviewing, for several years now, whether to put sesame seeds on the major food allergens list, a list that includes such foods as milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans.
Per CNN, Sesame allergies affect people of all ages and can appear as coughing, itchy throat, vomiting, diarrhea, mouth rash, shortness of breath, wheezing and drops in blood pressure, according to Dr. Robert Eitches, an allergist, immunologist and attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
“What it means is, for the 1.6 million Americans with life-threatening sesame allergy, that life gets better starting January 1, 2023,” Jason Linde, senior vice president of government and community affairs at Food Allergy Research & Education said. Sesame “is in dozens and dozens of ingredients” but was not always listed by name.
“For years, (people) with a life-threatening sesame allergy would have to look at the back of the label, call the manufacturer and try to figure it out,” he said. “If it was included, it was just included as a natural spice or flavor” adding that the new law “is a huge victory for the food allergy community”.
“We remind consumers that foods already in interstate commerce before 2023, including those on retail shelves, do not need to be removed from the marketplace or relabeled to declare sesame as an allergen,” the FDA said in an official statement issued back on December 15th, 2022. “Depending on shelf life, some food products may not have allergen labeling for sesame on the effective date. Consumers should check with the manufacturer if they are not sure whether a food product contains sesame.”
