Kids Food Allergies Blog

The Washington Post has a front-page story on food allergies this morning, “Food Allergies Trigger Multibillion-Dollar Specialty Market.”

Woo-hoo! I am always pleased when the mainstream media covers food allergies and raises general consciousness of this important issue.

According to reporter Annys Shinn’s article, the market for food allergy and intolerance products is projected to reach $3.9 billion this year, and is expected to hit $1.3 billion by 2010, up from $700 million in 1996. And an ever-growing group of start-up companies, mainstream retailers, and food industry giants are eager to provide goods that meet the specialized needs of this fast-growing market segment.

While I agree that grocery stores and food manufacturers are trying to make/sell products that meet my needs, I think they’re a ways off in getting it quite right. As an allergy mom, I have 2 specialized needs: products that are convenient and products that allow my daughter to feel like everyone else. What does that mean in concrete terms? My advice to larger scale manufacturers and grocery stores is to put your allergy R&D dollars into the following types of products:

breakfast foods: Since eggs and milk are two of the most common allergies of young children, breakfast can be the hardest meal of the day. I only know of one brand of “safe” donuts — Nutrilicious. They are wonderful, but hard to find. I know someone else can do this on a larger scale. What about frozen pancakes or allergy-free muffins?

dessert: I dream of the day when I could go to a party without having to bake a batch of cupcakes first. But it is unrealistic to hope that retailers would carry allergy-free perishable baked goods when they don’t know what the market size would be. Got it. But one would think that Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines would sit up and take notice of Cherrybrook Kitchen and realize the market they’re giving away by not manufacturing allergen-free box mixes of dessert. (Hey — while they’re at it — I would LOVE for someone to manufacture allergen-free tub frosting, because I really hate making frosting.)

convenience foods: What I wouldn’t do for an allergen-free equivalent of lunchables. Anything I could grab off the shelf and take with me for a picnic at the park or pool (or that I could pack for a school/camp lunch). Microwavable noodles (like the O’Hana House ones I found in San Francisco, but cannot find on the East Coast) would also be a plus. Or dare I suggest an allergen-free TV dinner.

candy: I have been told that there are peanut-free facilities that manufacture chocolate candy. If the Canadians can do it, why can’t we? My family doesn’t buy it anyway, because of my daughter’s milk allergy. But, how I would love to see dairy-free, nut-free candy. Not the $15/truffle box you can buy online. Just regular candy. At this point — I’d even be content if it wasn’t chocolate. Just big bags of dairy and nut-free candy good for stuffing pinatas, Halloween goody bags, and sharing with friends.

snacks: Parents of little kids carry around lots of snacks. They take them to the park, they send them to school, and bring them to soccer games. I have yet to find individual serving size snack packs that are safe for my daughter to eat (with the exception of Pringles, which I don’t want her to have too often.) There needs to be more pretzels manufactured in facilities free of peanut butter. That goes for crackers, animal crackers and cookies too.

Can you think of any items to add to my wish list? Or if you are a manufacturer or retailer, I’d love to exchange ideas with you. Just drop a comment.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under food allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.