The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has begun working on strategy to address confusion surrounding precautionary food allergy labelling. The agency has acknowledged the voluntary system for placing such notices on foods may be causing an unacceptable level of confusion and concern among consumers.

With no standard for the wording of allergen labelling statements, the differences from food to food can confuse consumers. Ideally, the US food industry would adopt one set of criteria for using certain advisory statements and limit the number of labelling variations. 

The Grocery Manufacturers of America has been working to set new guidelines on allergen labelling for more than a year and these guidelines will be further informed by the current FDA investigation.