TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding Precautionary Allergen Labeling (PAL) Preferences Among Food Allergy Stakeholders
AU - Gupta, Ruchi
AU - Kanaley, Madeleine
AU - Negris, Olivia
AU - Roach, Anita
AU - Bilaver, Lucy
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Confectioners Association (NCA).
Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Confectioners Association (NCA).Conflicts of interest: R. Gupta has received research support from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R21 ID # AI135705, R01 ID# AI130348, U01 ID # AI138907), Food Allergy Research Education (FARE), Melchiorre Family Foundation, Sunshine Charitable Foundation, Walder Foundation, UnitedHealth Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Genentech, and the National Confectioners Association (NCA); is employed by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago; is a Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and has served as a medical consultant/advisor for Aimmune Therapeutics, Genentech, Before Brands Inc., Kaléo Inc., Pfizer, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), AllerGenis LLC, and DBV Technologies., and FARE. L. Bilaver receives research grant support from the NIH, Thermo Fisher Scientific, FARE, Genentech, NCA, and Before Brands Inc. The rest of the authors declare that they do not have any relevant conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Background: Food allergy (FA) is an increasing public health concern in the United States, affecting approximately 8% of children and 11% of adults. The United States currently lacks clear requirements for the use of precautionary allergen labeling (PAL) on packaged foods, such as “may contain” or “made on shared equipment.” This lack of specific governmental policy results in inconsistent labeling practices and confusion. Objective: This study aimed to understand current knowledge and preferences for PAL statements among FA stakeholders. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was sent to FA stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and associations from logistic regressions were used to assess respondents' knowledge of PAL policy, shopping habits, and preferences around PAL. Results: Of 3008 respondents, 24.2% were able to correctly answer 4 questions surrounding PAL policies. When asked about their shopping habits, the majority of respondents never purchase products with a “May contain traces of allergen” label (85.5%) in comparison with never purchasing products with a “Good manufacturing practices used to segregate ingredients in a facility that also processes allergen” label (35.0%). Their top preferences for a PAL statement were “Not suitable for people with ‘blank’ allergy” (29.3%) and “May contain” (22.1%). Health care provider discussions around PAL varied and were strongly associated with purchasing behaviors. Conclusions: These results suggest that FA consumers are not aware of PAL policies and make decisions based on the words in the PAL. They prefer having clearer, more specific, and consistent labeling on products, indicating that explicit PAL policies are needed to allow customers to easily identify safe foods.
AB - Background: Food allergy (FA) is an increasing public health concern in the United States, affecting approximately 8% of children and 11% of adults. The United States currently lacks clear requirements for the use of precautionary allergen labeling (PAL) on packaged foods, such as “may contain” or “made on shared equipment.” This lack of specific governmental policy results in inconsistent labeling practices and confusion. Objective: This study aimed to understand current knowledge and preferences for PAL statements among FA stakeholders. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was sent to FA stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and associations from logistic regressions were used to assess respondents' knowledge of PAL policy, shopping habits, and preferences around PAL. Results: Of 3008 respondents, 24.2% were able to correctly answer 4 questions surrounding PAL policies. When asked about their shopping habits, the majority of respondents never purchase products with a “May contain traces of allergen” label (85.5%) in comparison with never purchasing products with a “Good manufacturing practices used to segregate ingredients in a facility that also processes allergen” label (35.0%). Their top preferences for a PAL statement were “Not suitable for people with ‘blank’ allergy” (29.3%) and “May contain” (22.1%). Health care provider discussions around PAL varied and were strongly associated with purchasing behaviors. Conclusions: These results suggest that FA consumers are not aware of PAL policies and make decisions based on the words in the PAL. They prefer having clearer, more specific, and consistent labeling on products, indicating that explicit PAL policies are needed to allow customers to easily identify safe foods.
KW - Allergen labeling
KW - Food allergen labeling policy
KW - Food allergy
KW - Pediatric food allergy
KW - Precautionary allergen labeling
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.09.022
DO - 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.09.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 33007499
AN - SCOPUS:85094583758
VL - 9
SP - 254-264.e1
JO - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
JF - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
SN - 2213-2198
IS - 1
ER -