[HN Gopher] Sesame Scheme: Unintended Consequences of Allergen F...
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Sesame Scheme: Unintended Consequences of Allergen Food Labeling
Author : hilux
Score : 34 points
Date : 2025-05-23 16:58 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.choicesmagazine.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.choicesmagazine.org)
| NaOH wrote:
| Related:
|
| _FDA warns top U.S. bakery not to claim foods contain allergens
| when they don 't_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40797790
| - July 2024 (580 comments)
| hilux wrote:
| As an immigrant to the U.S., I am glad that the U.S. has better
| protections for the public than some other countries (although
| inferior to the EU), AND I think that the current legally
| fraught situation is insane and untenable, both for companies
| who must obey an insane thicket of regs and laws (which drives
| them to constantly decrease "quality" and add sugar), and for
| the supposedly chronically ill almost everybody.
| CGMthrowaway wrote:
| Who downvoted you so hard and why?
| focusedone wrote:
| This impacted my family directly. A family member has a severe
| sesame allergy. Honestly we weren't aware people could be
| allergic to sesame before we found ourselves in the hospital
| after a severe reaction.
|
| Shortly after the hospital incident and after much time spent
| scrutinizing every ingredient label the law changed. We were
| excited about this at first. It became much easier to identify
| things we couldn't have in the house.
|
| The unfortunate side effects of the law were most visible in the
| bread aisle, where nearly every item now contains sesame. This
| included all of the store brands and most of the brand-name
| products. Initially, we were limited to only one brand of bread
| (shout out to Kings Hawaiian). We also found a few artisan /
| local boutique options we could trust, but that's a pretty
| expensive way to make a PB&J.
|
| Our situation has improved a bit. Recently a second, slightly
| less expensive, name brand sandwich bread went sesame-free. We're
| still stuck with oddly expensive artisanal hotdog buns. Why are
| the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's just weird
| that way.
|
| Anyway, I expect that eventually more brands will go sesame-free
| as recipes change and factories go through whatever update
| process where it makes sense to separate allergens.
|
| We're still happy about the regulation change and how easy it is
| now to identify dangerous items. Seeing global brands add sesame
| to a product to avoid whatever cost necessary to change their
| process was...not endearing. Hopefully their share price went up
| a few cents I guess.
| Spivak wrote:
| > Why are the fancy ones all top cut instead of side cut? It's
| just weird that way.
|
| How very _dare_ you. They 're the superior cut and it's
| appalling side cut even exists. To answer your question though
| it's because that cut originates from New England and is used
| for "higher end" foods like lobster rolls. So they're perceived
| as fancier.
|
| But they're just objectively better. Side cut buns are uneven
| which makes sense for a sandwich where you a thicker top bun
| but is utterly ridiculous for a top facing slice. Can you
| imagine a taco where one half of the tortilla was like three
| times as thick? Like look at this https://imgur.com/tF9uBp7 --
| absurd. That little flappy thing just falls apart. Also the
| flat part of the roll is at the bottom so when you top cut your
| hot dog can stand upright on the plate and not fall over.
| Typically the sides of top cut rolls are also flat which makes
| grilling/toasting the roll much easier. You get a delicious
| crispy buttery on the outside fluffy on the inside roll.
| hgomersall wrote:
| Why are they even cut at all!? Do people not have knives any
| more?
| aidenn0 wrote:
| You could say the same thing for sandwich bread, but it's
| rather obvious to me why both that and hot-dog buns are
| pre-sliced, so I'm not sure if you're being serious.
| vel0city wrote:
| When I'm just grilling links outside, it's easier to not
| bother with all the extra prep space to bother slicing all
| those buns.
|
| Just grab a bun from the bag, drop in a dog, hand it off to
| someone to dress it however they want at the line of
| condiments.
|
| There's practically zero chance I'm buying non-precut
| hotdog buns when there's a cut variety already on the
| shelf.
| mystified5016 wrote:
| Cutting bread is tedious. Have you heard of these new
| fantastic labor-saving devices?!
| jerrysievert wrote:
| they're the best thing since sliced bread!
| focusedone wrote:
| This one guy wants to throw away the greatest culinary
| achievement in 100 years, the greatness of which all other
| accomplishments are judged by.
| dkarl wrote:
| I'm with you 90%. However, side-cut buns have one advantage
| top-cut buns don't: if you're very careful and a little bit
| lucky, you can open them all the way and toast them face down
| on a griddle with butter.
|
| Clearly we need a special cooking tool that is like a toaster
| heating element that can be buttered and inserted into a top-
| cut bun to get the best of both worlds.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| My closest grocery store (an Albertsons in SoCal) completely
| lacks any top-cut hotdog buns. They have 9 different
| varieties of side-cut buns (Including 2 varieties of potato
| rolls; I counted). I'm from Rhode Island, so this situation
| is rather unacceptable to me.
| focusedone wrote:
| I did wonder if that one provocative statement would even be
| noticed :-)
|
| You make a good argument. I see the functional point of a top
| cut. Helps prevent condiment excursions. Less likely to break
| in half. BUT, it's just _so much bread_. And the hotdog does
| want to pop out.
|
| I'm unaware of any baseball park or hotdog stand where top-
| cut buns are sold. This is clearly an established best
| practice. Hotdog consumers have made an aesthetic choice
| here.
| decimalenough wrote:
| As a non-American, I was unaware that side-cut hotdog buns
| even existed.
|
| Then again, in Australia, the standard container for a
| "sausage sizzle" (grilled sausage) is a slice of plain
| white bread.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| > I'm unaware of any baseball park or hotdog stand where
| top-cut buns are sold.
|
| Baseball Park: Fenway[1]
|
| Hotdog Stand: Not uncommon in Rhode Island (and probably
| other parts of New England). I've seen Saugys[2] sold from
| food trucks in side-cut buns but it's the exception rather
| than the rule.
|
| 1: https://newengland.com/yankee/history/fenway-franks/
|
| 2: https://saugys.com/
| CGMthrowaway wrote:
| >that cut originates from New England and is used for "higher
| end" foods like lobster rolls.
|
| Yeah. Because it would suck if your hand-picked lobster fell
| out of your bun onto the ground (It also allows you to pour
| melted butter over the top, something you can't do on a
| sidecut bun).
|
| If you like hot dogs I would hope you feel the same way about
| your hot dog.
| wpollock wrote:
| > Strikingly, media reports indicated that some food
| manufacturers began adding sesame to products that previously did
| not contain the ingredient following the implementation of the
| new allergen labeling requirements (Aleccia, 2022; Chatman, 2023;
| Hughes, et al., 2023).
|
| I have to wonder if they really started adding sesame, or just
| began accurate labeling?
| lozenge wrote:
| Yes, they added sesame.
|
| https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/fare-responds-companie...
|
| Edit: I mean, it's also in the linked article! Just keep
| reading!
| pdpi wrote:
| Really started adding. This is the key quote:
| Second, we document that, following the enactment of the
| federal law, some food manufacturers engaged in risk
| mitigation by adding small amounts of sesame to
| products that previously did not contain the
| ingredient. Doing so allowed firms to use the safe harbor
| provided by the allergen labeling rule rather than the
| ambiguous and non-protective "may contain"
| precautionary labeling. This was most observed in the breads
| and buns category, products for which the prevention of cross-
| contamination may have been more challenging and the
| likelihood of a recall or litigation higher.
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