Highlights from FAACT's Food Industry & Research Summit

FAACT’s eighth annual Global Food Industry and Research Summit was held October 23-25 in Oak Brook, Illinois bringing together over 60 colleagues within industry and provided an open forum for food industry stakeholders to explore ideas on how to safely meet the needs of the food allergy community.

Presenters included staff from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska as well as food manufacturers, inventors, food service experts, allergists, dietitians, researchers, scientists, retailers, food growers, and pharmaceutical companies.

Session topics included the latest food allergy research, consumer perspectives, understanding Precautionary Allergen Labeling (PAL), the state of the retail grocery industry, supply chain challenges, and substitutions. Sesame becoming the top 9th allergen requiring explicit labeling was discussed, including a deep dive into FDA-regulated food allergen recalls, practical operations for food allergy safety at institutions, and peanut-allergy prevention. Scientists led complex discussions into the latest research in food allergy diagnosis, allergen cross-contact in shared cooking media, updates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations / World Health Organization (WHO) on food allergen risk assessment, FDA thresholds, and allergen management and consumer communication challenges. FAACT's corporate sponsors provided updates on new technology, current treatments, and solutions for the food allergy community.

FAACT was honored to host this event, and we offer a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who attended and supported the summit to help improve the quality of life and safety of people worldwide with food allergies.

For more information or learn how to get involved, please email Eleanor.Garrow@FoodAllergyAwareness.org.