Highlights from
FAACT's Global Food Industry & Research Summit

FAACT’s ninth annual Global Food Industry and Research Summit provided an open forum for food industry stakeholders to explore how to safely meet the needs of the food allergy community.

Presenters included staff from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska as well as food manufacturers, inventors, food service experts, allergists, dietitians, researchers, scientists, retailers, food growers, pharmaceutical companies, and consumers.

Session topics included the latest food allergy research, consumer perspectives, understanding Precautionary Allergen Labeling (PAL), the new Food Code, and supply chain challenges. Other sessions covered sesame becoming the top 9th allergen requiring explicit labeling, FDA-regulated food allergen recalls, practical operations for food allergy safety, and peanut-allergy prevention. Scientists led complex discussions on the latest research in food allergy diagnosis, allergen cross-contact in shared cooking, manufacturing risk assessments, research on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities, allergen management, and consumer communication challenges. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations covered research on food allergen thresholds, and FAACT corporate sponsors provided updates on new technology, current treatments, and solutions for the food allergy community.

"This is the only meeting in the nation where everyone comes together, from the farmer to the scientist and researcher, pharma, FDA, USDA, manufacturers, food service, physician, and the consumer," said Sohelia Maleki, Ph.D., Lead Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

FAACT was honored to host this event. We offer a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who attended and supported the summit to help improve the quality of life and safety of people worldwide with food allergies. FAACT remains inspired to continue creating a space for learning, sharing, exploring, and discovery in our food allergy world.

FAACT's tenth annual Global Food Industry and Research Summit will be held
November 10-12, 2024 in Oak Brook, Illinois. 

For more information or learn how to get involved, please email Eleanor.Garrow@FoodAllergyAwareness.org.