Food products made in Bermuda are still not being labelled due to a delay from the Health Department.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said proposals for legislation to make it mandatory for local manufacturers to include ingredients on food labels were still being researched.

However, the Director of Consumer Affairs Karen Marshall said food labels were important because children could be killed due to food allergies.

?A lot of kids are allergic to certain things in products,? Ms Marshall said. ?Some things can be quite deadly to children, for instance nuts or gluten or certain nutrients.?

Ms Marshall said some local produce sit on shelves with similar packaging.

?If someone got sick it would be difficult for us to trace the kitchen or cook,? Ms Marshall said. ?It is important to have information on the label. If food caused salmonella we need to be able to track it down and shut places down until they come up with a system to prevent it.?

Because local food manufacturers were only licensed on a yearly basis, it made it easier for the Health Department to shut down health offenders, Ms Marshall said.

She said people needed to be cautious consumers ? particularly with meat products.

But unlike other countries like the US, there was still no labelling law in Bermuda.

?The only restrictions are that you can?t import certain foods,? she said.

Health Department Inspectors visit grocery stores to take any out-of-date items off shelves, she said, and Consumer Affairs enforced recalls but as far as having a law that regulated the listing of ingredients, manufacturer telephone numbers or addresses and sell-by dates on local foods, that would not take place anytime soon, according to the Health Department.

Dr. Cann said initial proposals were going through minor adjustments to include detailed ingredient lists.

Most food purchased in Bermuda is imported from the US and already includes more detailed labelling, he said.

?These are the things being looked at,? he said. ?There have been advances in labelling in other jurisdictions. We want to make sure we have counted all the important areas.?

Dr. Cann said the proposed legislation would hopefully be looked at after the announcement of next month?s Budget.

?We have to get through other legislation on the agenda,? he said. ?We have at least three other pieces of legislation to deal with.?

Dr. Cann said food labelling was important because people with diabetes or allergies needed to make intelligent food purchases. ?That is certainly the most urgent and important reason,? he said. Consumer Affairs Board chairman Trevor Fyfe said there would be a meeting on February 6 when the issue would be discussed.

?We know it is something being dealt with in urgency but when is it legal is what is relevant,? Mr. Fyfe said.

US manufacturers were required to include nutritional information on food, including the percentages of fat, protein and trans fat, the last being a proven contributor to cancer, he said.

?In other jurisdictions you cannot buy anything off the shelves without that information,? he said.