Welcome to Episode 5 of the Allergy mom podcast – the second in a special series of Covid-related episodes to support families managing chronic health conditions such as severe allergies and anaphylaxis during a pandemic.  

In this episode I speak with Jon Terry of the Allergy Advocacy Association, a not for profit out of New York that strives to provide education and awareness to the public at large and at-risk individuals about allergies and anaphylaxis.  

I reached out to Jon after seeing posts he was sharing about his involvement in advocating for safe food labelling during the pandemic.   

Jon is passionately advocating due to his grave concerns in light of the Food & Drug Administration’s new “relaxed” food allergen labeling regulations- which allowed for manufacturers to substitute up to 2% of ingredients -without changing their product labels!  

While substitutions cannot include top allergens, you can imagine that this is still highly concerning to families dealing with food allergies and dietary restrictions.  When dealing with a severe food allergy, NOTHING is more important that knowing exactly what is in the food you are eating and seems like such a basic right to me that I’m always baffled by these types of issues when they arise.  

I hope you enjoy the conversation with Jon as much as I did – it’s always a pleasure to speak with a like-minded individual who advocates on behalf of our allergy community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• Jon lost his sister due to an anaphylactic reaction to bees and founded Allergy Advocacy Association in her memory
• Jon stresses that while deaths due to anaphylaxis are relatively low, the prevalence of this disease and the risks to people is increasing
• Jon discusses how ingredients such as sesame are becoming more and more pervasive as allergens and that there is a need for food labelling that indicates accurately all ingredients in a food product
• Jon shares his efforts along with those sharing in his mission such as FARE and the AAFA amongst others to advocate for people with allergies through consulting the FDA in regards to their relaxed food labelling guidelines during the pandemic which put those with allergies at risk

Key Takeaways:

1. We need to speak out and advocate to food manufacturers and policy makers to ensure that our food labels are accurate and representative of allergens that may pose a risk to those with food allergies
2. During a pandemic, food manufacturers may be using alternative ingredients and not labelling their products accordingly due to relaxed guidelines by the FDA – if in doubt you must contact the manufacturer to ensure that your favourite products are STILL SAFE
3. You can support individuals with severe allergy by reaching out to the FDA, advocacy groups and key stakeholders in food labelling (manufacturers and policy makers) and letting them know how serious of a concern this is for people with serious allergies and dietary restrictions. 

That is Episode 5! Thanks for listening! Check out Jon’s website for articles such as this one:  Pandemic Jolts Federal Policy for Food Labeling to keep abreast of this issue.