Food Allergen Advisory Statements

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Staff Training: Food Allergies & Anaphylaxis in School – What School Staff Need to Know

This 30 minute module is designed to assist the school nurse in staff training of management of life-threatening allergic reactions and increase food allergy awareness for all school staff including teachers, food service personnel, administrators, aides, specialists, coaches, bus drivers, custodians and others.

FOOD ALLERGY MYTH

“Advisory statements don’t mean anything. They’re only there to protect a company from liability.”

FOOD ALLERGY FACT

Avoid products with advisory labeling for the allergen of concern.

COMMENTARY:

These statements are written in numerous formats and under no regulation.  Examples include “may contain traces of,” ” produced in a facility that,” also, “manufactured on shared equipment with,” etc.  In “Consumer attitudes and risks associated with packaged foods having advisory labeling regarding the presence of peanuts”, Hefle and colleagues demonstrated that 7% of products with advisory labeling for peanut had detectable amounts of peanut in them. They also found that the terms used did not correlate with allergen levels. Similar studies had very similar findings.  Some recommendations regarding cautionary statements vary depending on the allergen in question and the individual child . Assume that the students that you care for must avoid advisory statements unless otherwise notified from the school nurse or healthcare provider.

RESOURCES:

REFERENCES:

1. Hefle, S.L. et al. “Consumer attitudes and risks associated with packaged foods having advisory labeling regarding the presence of peanuts.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 120.1 (2007): 171-176.