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Pediatrician Group Calls for Choking Warning Labels on Food Products

Choking warning labels are very important for parents to see. Foods like popcorn and gumdrops have a much higher risk of causing a choking incident in children below the age of four. That is something that parents and California personal injury lawyers have known for a long time. However, these foods don’t come with warning labels that would caution parents of a choking hazard. That must change, says a pediatrician group. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, foods that may pose a severe risk of choking to a child must come with choking warning labels cautioning parents and caregivers against the risk.

The threat of choking in little children has been a well documented one. However, the focus has typically been on children choking on toys, and not foods. Earlier this year, researchers studied hundreds of children who had to be hospitalized after suffering a choking-related incident. What the researchers found was surprising. Approximately 60% of children below the age of four, who had to be hospitalized for choking, had choked on food, and not toys.

Other studies have also indicated that choking on foods may be a higher risk for children below the age of five, than choking on small toys. It’s high time that federal agencies recognized this fact, and took steps to bring foods under federal regulatory powers.

Some food products do come with choking warning labels, but these products are very few in number. According to pediatricians, foods like popcorn, gumdrops, and peanuts may pose a high risk of choking, and therefore should come with warning labels cautioning parents of the high risk.

The risks to children from choking on foods are high. According to pediatricians, a child dies in America every five days from a choking accident. Choking risks are especially high in the below-five age group. In these children, swallowing abilities may not be well-developed, increasing the risks of choking. However, these risks have so far been neglected by agencies like the Food and Drug Administration. The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged the Food And Drug Administration to require warning labels on certain foods

The need for warnings is dire, considering that most parents remain unaware of the high risk of choking that certain foods have. It’s not uncommon to find parents offering a two-year-old child, foods like popcorn to eat. These foods can present a choking hazard, and many parents continue to be unaware of such risks. Warning labels could help bring attention to these risks, thereby preventing potentially fatal choking accidents.  It’s common to have parents rushing to emergency rooms with their child choking on a piece of food, and being stunned at the realization that the child choked on foods they considered safe.

If we don’t allow children to have small toys with inch-long detachable parts because of the risk of choking, we should also not allow children of the same age to eat foods of the same shape and size because of the same hazard either.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of choking hazards. Please visit our website at http://www.robertreeveslaw.com/. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us at contact@robertreeveslaw.com.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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