FDA Urges Banning Sulfites on Raw Fruit and Vegetables in Restaurants, Markets
The Food and Drug Administration, citing an “in-depth review” of nationwide reports of allergic reactions and deaths, Friday proposed to ban the use of sulfites on raw fruits and vegetables in restaurants and supermarkets.
The preservatives, used extensively to keep lettuce and other salad bar ingredients looking fresh, have been associated with 13 deaths and at least 500 reports of adverse reactions, the agency said. The FDA said that the chemicals can cause reactions in up to 1 million persons, including asthmatics and others who are sulfite-sensitive. The problems range from hives, nausea and diarrhea to shortness of breath and fatal shock, the FDA said.
“While sulfites have been used for many years to preserve such processed foods as dried fruit, they only recently became a widely utilized ingredient in varying amounts to keep fresh fruits and vegetables in salad bars from browning,” Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler said. “Most Americans have been unaware of this practice.”
Mitch Zeller, staff attorney for the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, which first brought the sulfite problem to the attention of the federal government in 1982, called the FDA’s action “a step in the right direction.” But he criticized the agency for not applying the ban to all uses of sulfites.
“What about processed foods and drugs?” Zeller asked.
Heckler said in a statement that the increased use of sulfites on foods in restaurants and supermarkets has resulted in an “upsurge” of consumer complaints, from 50 in 1983 to about 300 last year, “despite cooperative efforts with state and local authorities to require menu notices or signs where sulfites are used.”
The agency said that, as of last month, only 32 states, including California, had adopted a suggestion by the FDA to require such notices.
In July, 1984, the FDA asked the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, an independent panel of scientific experts, to evaluate sulfite safety. Last October, the committee, in its report, acknowledged the danger to “certain individuals (who) may be hypersensitive to sulfites” but did not demand a ban.
FDA spokesman Jim Greene said that the agency normally provides 60 days for public comment on a proposed regulation but has shortened the period in this case to 30 days--the minimum required--in an attempt to expedite the ban. If approved, a ban could become effective in early fall, he said.
Sulfites are used in the processing of a variety of foods to control microorganisms and to prevent browning. They are also used as dough conditioners and as bleaching and stabilizing agents. They are often present in wine, instant tea, coffee, cake mixes, cookies, shrimp and other seafood, gelatin and canned, frozen and dried vegetables. Restaurants often apply them to potatoes.
FDA regulations currently require that labels on many finished packaged foods note whether sulfites are used as a preservative. Included are such items as lemon juice, maraschino cherries, grape juice, some packaged fresh mushrooms, dried fruits and vegetables and some canned soups.
Recently, the agency proposed to broaden its regulations to require sulfite labels on finished packaged foods in which sulfites are used in earlier stages of processing and are detectable in the finished product.
“For example, sulfites used as a dough conditioner in the making of cookies would dissipate in large part but could leave a small detectable residue,” the FDA said.
Sulfite substances include sulfur dioxide, sodium sulfite, sodium and potassium bisulfite and sodium and potassium metabisulfite.
