THE BLESSING OF FOOD LABELS

If anyone takes a trip to the supermarket, he will find that there are dozens of brands for a single product. Food labels can advertise, in many different ways, products as simple as bread. Now, with the propagation of market niches, there are food labels that advertise bread with no fat, with little fat, with no sodium and with low sodium, among many other characteristics.

Many find that food labels can be a burden, but actually, food labels are a blessing. Especially for people that, for one reason or the other has to be very careful with food labels. A typical example is people with allergies; they have to be very careful with food labels. It may sound strange, but food labels save thousands of lives per year around the world.

Decades ago, a person could die from eating something as simple as chocolate with traces of peanuts. Now, only by reading food labels, any person who is allergic to peanuts can have a normal life.

However, what kinds of allergens are reported in food labels? If someone doesn’t suffer from any kind of allergy, he may find himself quite surprised on the amount of allergens that exist and that are listed in food labels.

A typical allergen in food labels is milk. There are thousands of people that suffer from a disorder called lactose intolerance. This disorder is caused by the lack of the enzyme that it is able to process lactose. Food labels protect those individuals that suffer from it.

Another allergen in food labels shellfish. This allergen is quite known, for a lot of people suffer from it. In extreme cases it may even cause death. That’s why it is very important, for people that area allergic to shellfish, to read food labels.

Other allergens in food labels are soy, wheat, nuts and eggs, among any others; thankfully, all of them are properly listed in food labels.