I also suspect that if there is an incident, this company might be able to have the government found liable for preventing it from warning customers.
If I were the FDA I'd standardize the nutrition label to have a clearly labelled allergen section in which you can reliably use to check that the product is free of X allergen. Of course a naive implementation of this would mean that water bottles and stuff will have a big long list of "gluten free, peanut free, dairy free" so it probably requires a bit more thought.
This is different from a wheat allergy, in fact, its also not an “allergen” in the same way that peanuts are (digestive problems vs anaphylaxis), and would probably be better classified as an intolerance similar to lactose (which is covered by milk but is also an indirect indicator of lactose that can be a false positive because lactose free milk exists).
> (digestive problems vs anaphylaxis) ... and would probably be better classified as an intolerance similar to lactose
is misinformation — "digestive problems" and "intolerance" drastically understate the seriousness of celiac disease, and contribute to the educational challenges surrounding the condition.
The chronic impact of gluten exposure to a celiac patient include: permanent damage to the small intestine, malnutrition, reduction of lifespan, and significantly increased risk of comorbid autoimmune diseases (MS, diabetes, and more) and cancer.
The acute symptoms span from gastrointestinal symptoms to neurological issues, systemic pain, and cognitive impairment. The reason for all of this is gluten causes the celiac patient's immune system to mobilize and attack the patient, i.e. "autoimmunity." Not anaphylactic, correct, but not a digestive problem nor an intolerance.
- Single meal will not kill you.
- Continuous use will shorten your life significantly.
(Something like smoking then?)
I don't think it would be as popular with a "sesame free diet".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diet#As_a_popular_...
> In the US, it was estimated that more than half of people who buy foods labeled gluten-free do not have a clear reaction to gluten, and they do so "because they think it will help them lose weight, because they seem to feel better or because they mistakenly believe they are sensitive to gluten."
Very interesting idea. I wonder if there is a similar situation in which the government prevented a company from alerting customers to something.
The only thing I can come up with is FISA warrants.