CHICAGO – If you are buying processed or canned food items, you may have bought an item that could pose a danger to those with food allergies. This is the result of a survey done by the Chicago Tribune in their testing of the local grocery stores.

The Tribune looked at thousands of food items, across 60 retail locations in and around Chicago. Of these, dozens were obviously mislabeled. Lab tests were also commissioned by the newspaper to determine precise ingredients inside a package. The results showed that 117 items were in violation of US food labeling laws.

Here’s a list of the errors found:

1. Labels are inaccurate or don’t fully disclose allergens.

There are eight foods that account for the vast majority of food allergies. US federal law requires that the presence of these things must be disclosed. However, of the food tested, more than 12 products had labels which did not fully disclose allergens. For instance, if a product includes butter, it must also state milk - so there is no confusion for the consumer.

2. Confusing labels abound.

US regulations specify that labels should not use technical terms for common allergens. However, this was another common problem. For instance, Lund’s Swedish Pancake Mix listed “whey powder” but did not declare milk. Other products listed ingredients such as “durum semolina” or “spelt” but did not declare wheat allergen being present.

3. Oats may be gluten free, but they are often tainted with wheat.

The Tribune actually tested 6 brands of cereal and found that all of them had hidden gluten in the form of either wheat or barley. This is a typical problem starting right in the fields, where oat fields are often grown side-by-side with wheat fields. The problem is that none of the cereals declared that wheat was a possible contaminant.

The worst offender was Quaker Oats with the highest amount of gluten.

4. Import labels are questionable.

There are multiple problems with imported items. Part of the problem is the difference in labeling laws in the country of origin. Chinese imports are a particular issue, since China has few rules for product labeling. In addition, there can translation errors that affect the accuracy of the label.

5. If you are allergic, do not eat unlabeled food!

While you might be tempted to guess that the ingredients of a processed food are okay, don’t! Allergens can be unseen and untasted.

Source: Detroit Free Press