by Kenna S Eaton, GM

Recently, we re-arranged the bins in the bulk room, and some Co-op shoppers have been asking why we made this significant change.

Simply put, it’s due to an update in allergen rules. The FASTER Act of 2021 designated sesame as the ninth major food allergen. These nine allergens include milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (which I was surprised to learn includes coconut), wheat, soybeans, fish, crustacean shellfish, and now sesame. January 2023 was the deadline for retail grocers to update our layout and labelling to reflect this change.

All bulk bins must be labeled correctly, and they must be processed, stored, and displayed in such a way to minimize cross contamination. In addition to making some changes in our back rooms and our kitchen, we were required to rearrange the bulk room, placing food bins containing any of those nine allergens beneath the other bins. Peanuts, for example, could not be above chocolate, but chocolate could be above peanuts (as long as it doesn’t contain peanuts). Additionally, these allergens must be housed in gravity bins, not scoop bins. Staff had lots of fun trying to figure out how to re-arrange the bins to ensure we were following the FDA Food Code while still keeping a logical layout: i.e., nuts with nuts, candy with candy, etc. 

There are a few other changes in store for our bulk room as we try to improve the flow—for instance we’re hoping to move the cooler to where the kombucha tanks were. Thanks for being patient with us as we implement those changes. They may take some time getting used to, but we can all feel good that we’re looking after the needs of our fellow shoppers, and maybe even ourselves.