Consumer attitudes and risks associated with packaged foods having advisory labeling regarding the presence of peanuts

“May Contain” Allergen Statements: Facilitating or Frustrating Consumers?

“…Gluten-free (GF)-labelled foods, with statements such as "produced in a facility that also processes wheat" or "made on equipment shared with wheat," also confuse consumers (Sharma et al 2015). Up to 90% of food products bearing peanut advisory statements did not contain any protein that can cause an allergic reaction (Hefle et al 2007). Ong (2008) argued that this use of PAL can frustrate and restrict consumers' food choice and may lead to health issues due to nutrient imbalance.…”

“…Further, at times, allergenic individuals may choose to ignore PAL and take risks with food products bearing PAL statements. Hefle et al (2007) reported that consumers were more likely to heed PAL in 2003 (85%) compared to 2006 (75%). It could be asserted that the proliferation of PAL statements across multiple food items could have resulted in "label fatigue" among consumers and may increase the tendency for people to disregard advisory labelling (Robertson et al 2013) or revert to unhealthy choices (Thorndike et al 2014).…”

“…It is noted in the literature that consumers with a recognized food allergy are more likely to purchase products with "shared facilities" than "shared equipment" labelling (Hefle et al 2007). However, when considering "shared equipment" and "may contain" labelling, consumers were more likely to purchase from the former label (Hefle et al 2007).…”

“…However, when considering "shared equipment" and "may contain" labelling, consumers were more likely to purchase from the former label (Hefle et al 2007). Consumers most commonly avoid "not suitable for [allergen] allergy sufferers" followed by "may contain" labelling (Sheth et al 2008) (Fig.…”

“…Remington et al (2013) proposed the use of a probabilistic risk assessment tool to determine if the usage of advisory labelling is actually appropriate. As consumers are paying lesser attention to advisory labels, due often to the proliferation of PALs and based on consumers' prior experiences (Hefle et al 2007;Sherlock et al 2014), a more precise or quantified PAL would instead provide consumers with informed choices to guide them whilst purchasing allergen-free-labelled or PAL products. However, quantified …”