Food labels are far less complete than allergy sufferers and doctors would like. The biggest problem is that so many foods fall under what’s called ”Standards of Identity” and are therefore exempt from complete and mandatory ingredient listing.

The standard identity were established years ago by the FDA and require that foods such as bread, catsup and mayonnaise contain a bare dard minimum of chicken. A condiment like mayonnaise must contain eggs and some kind of vegetable oil and vinegar. But none of these ingredient has to be listed.

And this is where things get tricky for allergic people. Vegetable oil may refer to soybean oil, sesame oil – or any mixture thereof. If you happen to be allergic to one of those oils, you’re out of luck. That same mayonnaise may also contain MSG and artificial flavors – optional ingredients which do not have to be listed.

Other foods contain vague ingredients like ”sweeteners,” ”starches,” ”proteins” and ”alcohol” – ingredients derived from other foods which carry the allergic properties of those foods. Yet as you can see from table, we’re given no clue as to their source.

Sad to say, all that makes the Standards of Identify a game of Russian roulettes for anyone with allergies to eggs, MSG, artificial flavorings – or anything else. For foods not defined by the Standards of Identify, label requirements are no less rife with loopholes.

The laws says that all ingredients must appear on the label, in descending order by weight. Additives such as representatives must be specified by name. So far, so good. But colors and flavors – the most common causes of allergic reactions – do not have to be individually identified.

As a rule, the more processed food, the more flavorings it has (see table), and as many as 125 chemical flavors can be used in single processed food (40 is about average).

Yet a manufacturer can list them all under the umbrella term ”artificial flavoring” without specifying the exact substances used. The same , goes for colors. When we do see individual flavors or colors listed by name, such as FD&C Yellow No.5, it’s primarily because manufacturers have yielded to public pressure generated by more and more people experience adverse reactions.

Especially significant have been the reports from Benjamin Feingold, M.D., and his followers, who believe that many hyperactive children show dramatic behavioral improvement when placed on a diet free of artificial flavors and colors. And as we mentioned earlier, hyperactive behavior is only one of many possible reactions caused by additive.

Incidentally, it’s not unheard of for people to be allergic to natural flavorings – like cinnamon, vanillin or peppermint – as well as artificial flavorings. And that holds true for other natural additives. Papain, an enzyme derived from papayas and used to tenderize meat, has been known to trigger asthma in sensitive people.

Sesame flour – widely used in cakes, breads and as a binder in meat products – maybe made not only from sesame seeds but pulverized orange peel, so if you’re allergic to citrus you could react to it. Citric acid, a natural preservative, may come from corn or beat molasses, lemons or pineapple.

Modified food starch may be made from wheat, corn, sorghum, arrowroot, tapioca or potatoes. Unfortunately, food processors usually omit natural additives from labels just as they do the artificial. It seems they care more about so called ”trade secrets” than they do about the public’s health.

”Food processors who do not label their products adequately place an unacceptable health burden on a rapidly growing segment of the public,” says Joseph B. Miller, M.D., clinical associate professor at the University of Alabama Medical Center and a member of the food committee of the American College of Allergists (Annals of Allergy, 1978).

What’s the FDA doing about this dangerous lack of information? An FDA representative told us that there is a trend toward more detailed labeling of food. For now, however, the agency has politely asked food manufacturers to voluntarily list all food colors individually.

But until food labels are required to list every single ingredient, allergic people and parents of allergic children will have to keep on their toes. An individual who is allergic to only one or two food dyes may have to avoid all foods containing artificial coloring.

Likewise, a person allergic to sulfur compounds or petroleum products may have to avoid any and all preservatives. Your job will be much easier if you avoid package, processed food as much as possible, carefully selecting only those items which you and your family are sure tolerate.

One last note: some people are so sensitive to plastic and the chemicals it imparts to food that they cannot tolerate food package in plastic wrap or tubes. If you suspect plastic wrapped food may give you trouble, find a butcher who sell meat in cellophane paper. Buy other foods in bulk or loose and store in glass jars at home.

Standards Of Identified For Some Common Foods

The information here will help you to distinguish between allergy to a basic food and allergy to one or more of the additives it may contain.

Food Category	Food	Ingredients Which May Or May Not Appear On The Label
		Must Contain	May Also Contain
Meat, fish and vegetable protein	Corned beef hash	Beef, potatoes, unspecified curing agents	Onions, garlic, beef broth or fat, other unspecified ingredients
	Frankfurters, bologna and similar cooked sausages	Meat	Corn syrup
	Ham, chopped	Fresh cured or smoked ham, certain unspecified curing agents and seasonings	Onions, garlic, corn syrup
	Ham, country style	Cured ham	Unspecified spices
	Nuts, mixed	At least 3 or 4 kinds of nuts	Antioxidants
	Shrimp (frozen, raw, breaded)	Shrimp, breading	Unspecified antioxidants
	Tuna, canned	Tuna fish	Unspecified vegetable oil, olive oil, salt, MSG, unspecified protein, garlic, lemon, unspecified vegetable broth and spices
Dairy products	Margarine	Animal or vegetable fat	Butter, milk, soybeans, salt, artificial color, unspecified preservatives, vitamins A and D, plus various additives
	Sour cream	Milk	Unspecified sweetener, salt, artificial or natural flavors, plus other unspecified ingredients
Grain products	Bread, rolls, buns (white)	Wheat flour	Unspecified shortening, milk, eggs, sugar, yeast, corn flour, soy, sulfates, iodine, unspecified spices, unspecified conditioners, ascorbic acid
	Macaroni	Wheat flour	Egg, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, salt, gum gluten, milk, carrageenan*
	Rice, coated	Rice	Talc (a mineral), glucose (a sugar)
	Wheat flour	Wheat	Barley flour, ascorbic acid, unspecified bleaching agents
Vegetables	General, canned	Specified vegetable or vegetables	Unspecified natural flavorings (except mushrooms), critic acid+, vinegar (except artichokes and mushrooms)
	Asparagus in glass containers	Asparagus	Stannous chloride
	Black eyed peas	Black eyed peas	EDTA preservative
	Tomato products Catsup (ketchup)	Tomatoes, salt, vinegar, unspecified sweetener, onions and/or garlic, unspecified spices and/or flavorings
	Tomato paste	Tomatoes	Baking soda, unspecified flavorings
	Tomato canned	Tomatoes	Salt, unspecified spices and flavorings
Fruit	General, canned	Specified fruit or fruits	Vinegar, ascorbic acid, unspecified artificial or natural flavorings, unspecified sweetener
	Applesauce	Apples	Salt, unspecified sweetener, unspecified artificial or natural flavorings, antioxidants, unspecified color additives
Beverages	Lemonade	Lemon juice	Unspecified preservatives
	Lemonade, colored	Lemonade juice, unspecified	Unspecified preservatives
	Orange juice drink	50% orange juice	Unspecified preservatives
	Soda water	Carbonated water	Unspecified artificial or natural flavorings or coloring, caffeine, other unspecified ingredients
Condiments	Catsup – see Tomato products (vegetables)
	French dressing	Tomatoes, unspecified vegetable oil, vinegar	Lemon and/or lime juice, unspecified spices, unspecified stabilizers and emulsifiers, unspecified color additives, EDTA preservative
	Mayonnaise	Unspecified vegetable oil, eggs±, vinegar, lemon and/or lime juice	Unspecified spices and sweeteners, EDTA preservative
	Salad dressing	Vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar, lemon and/or lime juice, unspecified spices	Unspecified sweeteners, unspecified starch, EDTA preservative

Source: Adapted from Processed Foods and the Customer: Additives, labeling, Standards and Nutrition, by V.S. Packard (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976).
* A seaweed derivative
+ Citric acid may be derived from either corn or sugar beet molasses, lemons or pineapple.
± Egg free mayonnaise must be called “imitation mayonnaise.”

How To Locate Unpacked Food That’s Additive Free

If you’re extraordinarily sensitive to additives, unpackaged food requires the same vigilance as package. When buying fish it pays to ask the person at the counter if the fish has been dipped in a preservative like metabisulfite or sodium benzoate. Robert W. Boxer, M.D., an allergist near Chicago, told us, ”There’s no outfit here in town that advertises fresh fish.

Yet may patients tell me that when they really look into it, they find out that sodium benzoate has been added to the fish as a preservative.” (You’re more likely to find an informed person on duty at your local neighborhood fish market than at a big supermarket, by the way.)

To find suppliers of chickens not raised on antibiotics or eggs not treated with penicillin, you might consider joining a food co-op. In restaurant, you may have to muster up the courage to ask the waiter if the salad greens have been sprayed with metabisulfite or other preservatives.

Entire meals have been ruined by attacks of hay fever, hives, asthma – or worse – because of allergy to the unsuspected additive (wine cork, too, often harbor metabisulfite). ”People who have bad asthma have to be sure to rinse their lettuce very, very well,” said Dr. Falliers. ”Even so, if you are very sensitive, you may still swallow enough metabisulfite to start an asthma attack or a terrible headache or something else.”