The unintended consequence of requiring sesame to be noted on food labels

The AP reported last week:

A new federal law requiring that sesame be listed as an allergen on food labels is having unintended consequences — increasing the number of products with the ingredient.

Food industry experts said the requirements are so stringent that many manufacturers, especially bakers, find it simpler and less expensive to add sesame to a product — and to label it — than to try to keep it away from other foods or equipment with sesame.

As a result, several companies — including national restaurant chains like Olive Garden, Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A and bread makers that stock grocery shelves and serve schools — are adding sesame to products that didn’t have it before. While the practice is legal, consumers and advocates say it violates the spirit of the law aimed at making foods safer for people with allergies...

Under the new law, enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, companies must now explicitly label sesame as an ingredient or separately note that a product contains sesame. In the U.S., ingredients are listed on product packaging in order of amount. Sesame labeling has been required for years in other places, including Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

If the ingredients don’t include sesame, companies must take steps to prevent the foods from coming in contact with any sesame, known as cross-contamination.

When it comes to food labelling and the choice of ingredients, a rational food producer will choose the option that is the lowest cost (assuming that there is no revenue difference between selling products that do or do not contain sesame). Essentially, with this new law they have to weigh up two options: (1) re-configuring their plant to avoid cross-contamination, and not having to label their products as containing sesame; and (2) adding a small amount of sesame flour to their products, and including sesame in the ingredient list. Clearly, for many producers, the first option is lower cost. They comply with the new law, and importantly they avoid any costs associated with consumers having allergic reactions to their products (because the product label should warn those consumers away).

It's unfortunate that sesame consumers will now find it more difficult to find products that they will not have an allergic reaction to, but this was entirely foreseeable, especially given that this is not the first time that producers have reacted in this way:

Some large companies previously have added other allergens to products and updated their labels. In 2016, Kellogg’s added traces of peanut flour to some cookies and crackers, prompting protests.

 [HT: Marginal Revolution]