Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - July/August 2021 - 22

Continued from page 21
' FASTER ACT '
PROMOTES MORE
FOOD ALLERGY
RESEARCH
The Food Allergy Safety,
Treatment, Education, and
Research (FASTER) Act
H.R. 1202, S. 578 was signed
into law by President Joseph
R. Biden on April 23, 2021.
FASTER requires greater
priority be given to food
allergy research by the federal
government, as well as making
sesame the ninth major food
for which the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)
will require plain language
labeling beginning January
1, 2023. This is the first new
allergen that has been added
to FALCPA since 2006.
According to Allergome
database, 2,554 allergen
sources have been described
as allergenic as of May 12,
2021 and more than 160 foods
have been identified to cause
food allergies in sensitive
individuals. An estimated
85 million Americans are
affected by food allergies and
intolerances, with 32 million
of those people suffering from
life threatening allergies and
1.5 million allergic to sesame.
Every three minutes someone
in the U.S. seeks emergency
medical treatment for a food
allergy reaction.
There is only one FDAapproved
treatment for food
allergies and it is only for
peanut allergies. In 2020,
the FDA approved Palforzia
[Peanut (Arachis hypogaea)
Allergen Powder-dnfp] to
mitigate allergic reactions,
including anaphylaxis, that
may occur with accidental
exposure to peanuts. There is
no cure for food allergies.
Food allergy is both common
and costly, yet currently the
federal government spends just
19 cents per person on food
allergy research. The passage
of FASTER establishes a riskbased
scientific process and
framework for establishing
additional allergens covered
by FALCPA, and requires
Health and Human Services
(HHS) and the Secretary of
Health to report on scientific
opportunities in food allergy
research that examines
prevention, treatment, and
potential cures as well as
allergen prevalence, testing,
and risk management. This
federal reporting required
by FASTER is a major step
towards improving the health
and quality of life for those
living with food allergies.
Strict avoidance is still the
only effective measure to
prevent the occurrence of food
allergies, therefore appropriate
labeling is considered the
critical risk management
tool in the food industry.
Regulations surrounding food
allergen labeling vary greatly
from country to country
globally with emphasis placed
on specific food allergen
prevalence within a country
which can be influenced by a
22 NUTRITION & FOODSERVICE EDGE | July-August 2021
NOT ALL BIOCHEMICAL
CHARACTERISTICS involved in food
allergen pathogenesis are currently known,
and the complete understanding of disease
mechanism lies at the forefront of food
allergy research.
variety of factors, including
cultural differences and
dietary habits-to name a few.
Not all biochemical
characteristics involved in
food allergen pathogenesis
are currently known, and
the complete understanding
of disease mechanism lies at
the forefront of food allergy
research. There is great
variation in the likelihood
of specific foods provoking
allergic sensitization. Various
studies are being conducted
to determine characteristics of
proteins that make them more
prone to being an allergen,
and surrounding factors in
determining the allergenicity
potential. Technological
advances in instrumentation
have enabled unprecedented
discoveries in the signaling
pathways underlying immune
tolerance, sensitization
and desensitization to food
allergens, including the roles
of allergen-specific cells in the
largely unknown etiologies
of food protein-induced
reactions.
Defining the major allergenic
and antigenic components of
immunoresponsive proteins is
driving research in allergenic
Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - July/August 2021

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