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.

The European Commission aims to harmonise gluten free labelling legislation across the 27 countries of the European Union. The proposed regulation will set-up compositional criteria related to the claims 'gluten-free' and 'very low gluten' for foods that have been manufactured specifically to satisfy the particular nutritional requirements of people who are intolerant to gluten.

There has been an increase in the incidence of reported kiwifruit allergy in recent years. A research team has now published the findings of their investigation into the association between baker's asthma, a frequent IgE-mediated occupational disorder mainly provoked by inhalation of cereal flour, and allergy to kiwifruit.

A study has shown that parents of food-allergic children feel better able to cope after attending a group workshop. In the trial, children (aged 5 to 7 years) with a food allergy and their parents attended one of four half-day workshops. Parents completed self-report measures of perceived competence in coping with food allergy at 3 time points: preworkshop (within 8 weeks of the intervention), postworkshop (immediately after the intervention), and follow-up (4-8 weeks after the intervention). Parents completed a measure of burden associated with food allergy at preworkshop and follow-up.