Time To React?
For reasons that are not quite clear even to the experts, food allergies have been on the rise in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of children with food allergies increased a full 18 percent between 1997 and 2007.
Today, food allergies impact as many as 15 million people in the United States — with almost 6 million of those affected being children, says Maria Acebal, CEO of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, Fairfax, Va.
And just eight types of foods — cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soybeans and wheat — account for 90 percent of all food-allergy reactions, CDC notes. Reactions range from mild (rashes,hives) to serious (swelling in the tongue or throat, difficulty breathing).
Although some retailers have dabbled in product development related to gluten-free and peanut-free foods, they could be missing out on an opportunity to take a more encompassing approach to allergy-free store brand products.
"Food-allergic consumers are a rapidly growing group and are always searching for safe foods," Acebal notes.
Develop an action plan
But you'll find no such thing as a truly allergy-free food, of course. In fact, virtually any food can cause an allergic reaction, Acebal points out, not just those containing any of the top eight allergens. Any product development here, therefore, needs to target a specific allergen or two.
"Gluten-free, milk-free, nut-free and peanut-free seem to be the most popular free-from items sought," Acebal says. "Those avoiding soy find it difficult to find packaged food items that are free from soy, and therefore, their choices are limited."
Before engaging in any kind of product development here, Dee Sandquist, a registered dietitian who serves as a spokesperson for the Chicago-based Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, advises retailers to ask their customers specifically what they are looking for in terms of allergen-free foods.
"If a decision is made to provide an allergy-friendly line of products, all of the source ingredients must be determined to be safe," Acebal adds. "Manufacturing lines and/or [a] facility can be a source of cross-contact."
That means retailers must pay close attention to ingredient substitutions manufacturers might opt for if they run into a shortage or another sourcing problem, Sandquist notes. It also means they need to build transparency into the supply chain and ensure strict quality control practices are in place.
In addition, retailers must find ways to clearly communicate the "free-from" status of products to shoppers.
"Clarity and consistency in ingredient labeling should be a priority," Acebal says.
Certifications also help reassure shoppers a product is free from a certain allergens. For example, The Gluten Intolerance Group runs the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, which is able to certify a product's gluten-free status, Sandquist notes.
And for Canadian suppliers, the Quebec Food Allergies Association's Certified Allergen Control program can certify that a product is free from milk, almonds, peanuts and/or eggs.
To help shoppers locate products targeting specific food allergies, retailers also might want to consider setting up an "allergy-friendly" section within their stores.
"An allergy-friendly section of a grocery store would likely be welcomed by food-allergic consumers and could potentially shorten the length of time it takes to shop," Acebal says. "Shoppers should be urged to continue to read food labels and not use 'free-from' claims as the sole source of information."
Retailers also might want to provide food allergen information on their websites and give customers access to an on-staff registered dietitian, Sandquist says.
"Customers with allergies generally like a lot of information," she notes.