Food safety is being redefined to include allergen-free as well as pathogen-free. Food labeling laws assume all ingredients are equal, but clearly allergenic ingredients are more equal than others.
High-profile food allergy cases prompted the FDA to issue an allergy warning letter in 1996, putting manufacturers on notice that narrow exemptions from ingredient labeling requirements would no longer be acceptable because of the life-threatening potential of allergic reactions. Food recall actions spiked to 90 that year and have remained near that level ever since.