CHICAGO — Label Insight and FARE, a private funder dedicated to food allergy research and education, are teaming up to provide transparent food product information to help shoppers with allergies gain additional control when shopping for food and beverages. 

Approximately 85 million Americans have food allergies or intolerances to the top nine food allergens. Through the partnership, Label Insight will integrate its database into the upcoming FARE Living app to expand its capabilities and allow consumers to identify products that meet their dietary considerations specific to food allergies and intolerances. 

“Whether it’s online or in a physical store, shopping for groceries can be a daunting task if you are living with a food allergy or have an intolerance,” said Lisa Gable, chief executive officer of FARE. “Our partnership with Label Insight will allow us to take our initiatives to the next level, including working with food manufacturers to expand their database and to voluntarily move to clear and consistent precautionary allergen labeling.” 

By leveraging Label Insight’s data, the upcoming FARE Living app will gain access to over 540,000 universal product codes (UPCs) for food and beverage label information. The FARE Living app will give users more control when grocery shopping by highlighting major allergens. Specific information that will become available includes products containing the top nine food allergens: egg, milk, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, and sesame, as well as some information related to common food intolerances. 

“Partnering with FARE not only helps the millions of Americans who experience allergic reactions to food ingredients, it also shows an unprecedented depth of trust in our data,” said Sherry Frey, vice president of health and wellness at NielsenIQ, Label Insight’s parent company. “We believe this will create a safer and overall better customer experience for shoppers who deal with these dietary restrictions every day and will help retailers better understand their consumers and tailor offerings that meet their needs.”