By Melanie Segala

Are food manufacturers and government officials so callous that they are actually using children as guinea pigs when it comes to food labeling?

Apparently so, according to the Chicago Tribune’s 2008 investigative report on hidden allergens in popular food products. Hidden food allergens are part of the reason that an estimated 30,000 Americans are rushed to the emergency room each year and another 150 die – most of them children.

The issue was brought to light when three-year-old Patrick Pridemore ate Wellshire Kids’ Dinosaur Shapes Chicken Bites and began having trouble breathing. His mother jabbed his leg with an epi needle and rushed him to the hospital, where, thankfully, he recovered.

Patrick has a severe allergy to wheat, and the packaging label said the product was “gluten-free” (containing no wheat, rye, or barley proteins). Mrs. Pridemore meticulously scrutinizes labels to ensure that Patrick is not exposed to gluten.

Amazingly, when she contacted Wellshire and the USDA to report Patrick’s health crisis, neither organization would test the product to confirm the presence of gluten. The Tribune then sent the chicken bites to a leading food allergy lab on two separate occasions, and both times gluten was found. But this was still not enough for the manufacturer to recall or relabel the product. Whole Foods was the only retail outlet to remove the chicken bites and two other suspected Wellshire products from its stores.

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