FDA Says Whole Foods Market Repeatedly Failed to Properly Label Foods With Allergens
Products sold with the store’s brand name contained undeclared allergens that led to 32 recalls in the past year
Whole Foods Market repeatedly failed to properly label foods containing major allergens that were sold under the store's brand name over the past year, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a warning letter it sent to the chain and posted publicly.
The spate of mislabeled products—found primarily in the bakery and deli sections of the major supermarket chain—prompted the company to recall 32 food products between October 2019 and November 2020, the FDA said.
The agency also alleged that the recent poor track record was a pattern at Whole Foods Market, noting that in previous years, the supermarket chain also sold foods that had to be recalled because the company failed to declare allergens on the labels.
The recalled products are no longer being sold at any of the chain's stores.
Undeclared Allergens Are on the Rise
Undeclared food allergens have been the No. 1 leading cause of Class 1 food recalls for at least the past three years, according to the FDA. The public warning announced Tuesday is part of the agency’s efforts to improve the food industry’s compliance with allergen labeling requirements.
The law requires that foods or ingredients that contain one major food allergen or more must be labeled as such. The eight foods considered major food allergens are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans.
“Consumers deserve to know exactly what they are buying to eat and should be able to trust that the product labels clearly list all major food allergens,” William A. Correll Jr., director of compliance at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a statement about the Whole Foods warning. “The entire food supply chain can and must do better to prevent exposing consumers to incorrectly labeled packaged food.”
For those with allergies, certainty about ingredients in the foods they eat is critical. When companies don’t declare major allergens, it puts "many at risk for potentially life-threatening allergic reactions," says Melanie Carver, chief mission officer of the nonprofit Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. "We appreciate the FDA's oversight in enforcing food label laws and regulations to keep consumers safe."
CR's Ronholm notes that "this situation serves as a reminder that premium price points don’t guarantee that a product is safer or of higher quality. Consumers should remain vigilant about food safety and closely scrutinize their purchases, especially if they have allergies, no matter where they shop.”
