Find out about our advocacy for improved food allergy education in foodservice, and read our interview with Dr. Soller on a study around parental anxiety – which many of you participated in last year.
Learn about a recent study that finds asthma and food allergies are predictable at age one. Plus, check out our mythbuster series, this month we ask the question: Can someone with food allergies be cured of their allergy when they are given an epinephrine auto-injector?
Advocating for more robust food allergy education in foodservice
Over the past two years, we’ve been working with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to update the food allergy content in their food handlers course – Food Safety: A Guide for Ontario’s Foodhandlers. This course provides knowledge of safe food handling practices for restaurant/foodservice staff, including a section on food allergens.
We are pleased to let you know that we have been successful in our advocacy efforts and the course has been recently updated to include more robust food allergy-related information for restaurants/foodservice establishments. The updated content includes information on key elements, such as the basics of food allergy, minimizing risks like cross contamination, reading food labels, and consumer communications.
This improved content will help foodservice establishments better understand how to reduce risk, how to offer more choices, and build an understanding around food allergy.
Study looks at the effects of parental anxiety around food allergies
Dr. Lianne Soller
Dr. Edmond Chan and Dr. Lianne Soller of the BC Children’s Hospital are spearheading a series of studies on food allergy in children. Late last year, they asked us to help recruit participants for a study on anxiety in parents of children with food allergy.
Though the study is recent and most of the data hasn’t been processed yet, Dr. Soller shared some preliminary results with us. Check out our interview with her.
Study finds asthma and food allergies predictable at age one
Children at one year of age who have eczema or atopic dermatitis (AD) and are sensitized to an allergen, are 7 times more likely than other infants to develop asthma, and are significantly more likely to have a food allergy by age three.
Read AllerGen’s release to learn more about this study. AllerGen is a national research network dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with allergic and related immune diseases.
New mythbuster series: check out this month’s edition
Can someone with food allergies be cured of their allergy when they are given an epinephrine auto-injector (e.g., EpiPen®)? Find out!
Tags: advocacy, Anxiety, asthma, Epinephrine, mythbuster, myths, Research, study