Unintended Consequences of Allergen Food Labeling

An estimated 6.2% of U.S. adults and 5.8% of U.S. children – more than 20 million people – have food allergies (Ng and Boersma, 2023; Zablotsky, Black, and Akinbami, 2023). For consumers with food allergies, labels indicating the presence of an allergen in a product can reduce information asymmetry and enhance the safety of purchasing decisions (Simons, et. al, 2005). For producers, however, ensuring that food products with and without major allergens are kept separated in production and distribution can be a significant challenge. The costs associated with mislabeling and cross-contamination, driven by costs of recalls and related civil litigation, can be large (Gupta et al., 2017). Indeed, the current most common reason for recalls of food products in the United States is the incorrect labeling of allergens (Gendel and Zhu, 2013).