Individuals with food allergy develop symptoms after eating foods that for the vast majority of the population are part of a healthy diet. The only way for the allergic individual to manage food allergy is to avoid eating the food that causes the allergic reaction. The quality of life of the food allergic individual may be seriously impaired. The impact also extend to the family and friends of the allergic individual, as all have to be vigilant to protect the allergic individual from the foods to which he or she is (or believes to be) allergic.

EuroPrevall will develop and apply new questionnaires, which will provide new insights into the impacts of food allergies and will help governments, the food industry and doctors to identify the most effective strategies to improve the quality of life of food allergic consumers.  A questionnaire that can measure the impact of food allergy on quality of life may serve several purposes:

• Identify the quality of life problems associated with food allergy and the magnitude of the problem.
• Assess the effectiveness of different interventions (including regulatory policies).

EuroPrevall will also investigate how the quality of life for food allergic consumers can be improved. The focus of this research will be on how different ways of labelling food affect the food allergic consumer.

Read the full report  

References
B.M.J. de Blok, B.J. Vlieg-Boerstra, J. N. G. Oude Elberink, E.J. Duiverman, A. DunnGalvin, J. O'B. Hourihane, J.R. Cornelisse-Vermaat, L. Frewer, E.N.C. Mills, A.E.J. Dubois (2007). 
A framework for measuring the social impact of food allergy across Europe. A EuroPrevall state of the art paper. 
Allergy 62 (7), 733-737. 

Food-allergic consumers’ labelling preferences

Recent changes in European food safety legislation have resulted in the implementation of statutory requirements regarding the traceability and labelling of 12 food allergens. EuroPrevall conducted a research in TheNetherlands and Greece that concluded that food-allergic consumers were not satisfied with the current labelling practices. Information was thought to be unclear or insufficient, which resulted in personal stress and feelings of insecurity. Further research is needed to identify how best allergy information might be provided.

References
Judith R. Cornelisse-Vermaat, Jantine Voordouw, Vassiliki Yiakoumaki, Gregory Theodoridis and Lynn J. Frewer (2007)
Food-allergic consumers’ labelling preferences: a cross-cultural comparison
The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on June 21, 2007
doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckm032

More information
EuroPrevall website
InformAll database:For detailed information on the foods, which may cause allergic reactions