Food Wrappers Can Cause Fatal Allergic Reactions

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Main Category: Allergy
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Public Health
Article Date: 07 Aug 2006 - 9:00 PDT

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About one third of all food wrapping contains latex, an allergen that possibly up to 6% of the population is allergic to, according to a new study carried out at Leatherhead Food International, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, UK. More worrying was that the lab tests found that the latex, on occasions, was making its way into the food itself.

You can read about this study in the journal Chemistry and Industry.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said "The Food Standards Agency advises consumers not to change what they eat or how they prepare it, as it is not clear that there actually is transfer of allergens from latex to food outside the laboratory."

People who are allergic to latex do not need much of it to trigger a reaction, even quantities as low as one billionth of a gram per millilitre (ng/ml) can. Latex is extensively used by the food industry, you can find it in confectionary cold-seal adhesives, fruit and vegetable stickers, even some ice-cream wrappers have latex in them.

Even though we know that latex does cause an allergic reaction in a significant number of people, there are no agreements with the food industry for safe levels of it.

In this study the scientists looked at latex levels in 21 different types of food packaging. They found that over 30% of the wrappers contained latex. An ice cream wrapper contained 370 ng/ml, three-hundred and seventy times the minimum that can trigger an allergic reaction in some humans.

A chocolate biscuit actually had 17 ng/ml of latex inside it, the latex had transferred from the wrapper into the food. Two other samples of foods also had latex inside them. The food Standards Agency stressed that a lab experiment does not necessarily mean the same happens outside.

The UK Latex Allergy Support Group says changes in food labelling rules are urgently needed. For some people there are no safe levels of latex, says the group.

The FSA says more research needs to be carried out before deciding on how to proceed.

-- Journal Chemistry and Industry
-- Food Standards Agency
-- Latex Allergy Support Group

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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