FDA warns maker of Sara Lee and Entenmann’s not to claim foods contain allergens when they don’t

Federal food safety regulators said Tuesday that they have warned a top U.S. bakery to stop using labels that say its products contain potentially dangerous allergens when they don’t.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors found that Bimbo Bakeries USA — which includes brands such as Sara Lee, Oroweat, Thomas’, Entenmann’s and Ball Park buns and rolls — listed ingredients such as sesame or tree nuts on labels even when they weren’t in the foods.

Under FDA regulations, such products are “misbranded,” FDA officials said in a warning letter sent to officials at the company’s Horsham, Pennsylvania, headquarters earlier this month.

“Food labels must be truthful and not misleading,” officials said. The warning followed inspections late last year at Bimbo plants in Phoenix, Arizona, and Topeka, Kansas, that make Sara Lee and Brownberry breads.

In addition, FDA officials indicated that allergen labeling is a “not a substitute” for preventing cross-contamination in factories.

Advocates with the nonprofit group FARE, Food Allergy Research & Education, said such labeling “does a disservice” to the estimated 33 million people in the U.S. with food allergies. Those consumers have to be constantly aware of foods that can cause potentially life-threatening allergic reactions, said Sung Poblete, FARE’s chief executive.

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