T07045: Food allergy and intolerance research

Study Duration: December 2004 to May 2005

Contractor: COI Communications

Adverse reactions to food, including fatal reactions, occur most frequently among teenagers and young people, particularly when they are eating away from home. To better protect these age groups, there is a need to establish what they need to know about food allergies and intolerances, and to explore how best these needs can be met and how to better communicate with them.

This project will identify the key issues that teenagers and young people with a food allergy/intolerance face when they start to eat out, or move away from home and start cooking for themselves. It will also seek to establish the key issues for parents of teenagers and young people who have food allergy/intolerance.

As part of this research, there will be an assessment of consumers� understanding of allergen labels currently in use. In addition, this research will establish what forms of communication teenagers, young people and parents would like to see.

A qualitative methodology including a combination of small groups, paired and in-depth interviews will be used. The main target audience are teenagers (secondary school age; 11-18 years) and young people (at college or university; 18-22 years). Some parents/guardians who buy food for young people with food allergies or intolerances will be included. People from ethnic minorities will also be included in this project, although, their responses will not be reported separately.

The research will be UK-wide. Within England, areas with poor NHS allergy services will be covered (SW and NE England), as well as those with better services (Midlands and South East).

The research was carried out in two stages, comprising group discussions and in-depth interviews with young people with food sensitivities and their parents. there was also an interactive workshop that also involved professionals working in the field of food sensitivity and representatives from the FSA.

The various negative effects of having a food sensitivity on a young person's social and interpersonal life, together with normal teenage behaviours, can lead to resentment and denial, and thus to poor risk management and an increased chance of having an adverse reaction.

This age group also wanted to be able to easily access detailed answers to questions about their particular allergy or intolerance and had clear ideas on how food allergen labelling should be presented.

The final report is available from the Agency's Information Centre.

To obtain a copy, please contact the Enquiry Desk, Information Services, Food Standards Agency (tel: 020 7276 8181/8182 or email: infocentre@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk)

Contact: For any enquiries concerning this research project, please contact the relevant programme contact or email: science@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk