Are food allergy research activities underway?
Medical researchers are working on developing treatments to prevent or decrease the symptoms of serious food allergies. Before developing such treatments, it is necessary first to identify the specific proteins that are responsible for triggering the allergic response. A number of the proteins responsible for peanut allergy have been identified. Medical treatments to desensitize or minimize peanut and other food allergy reactions are under development, but will not be widely available for several years. Until then, avoidance is the best prevention of food allergies. Can I trust what is written on the label? In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration requires that known food allergens be listed on product ingredient statements. Currently, European labelling regulations permit exclusion of labelling for ingredients which constitute less than 25% compound ingredients (for example, the ingredients in the filling of a cake are not required to be individually listed if the filling constit
