Allergy Friendly Food Companies + Why Some Grocery Chains are Removing Best Before Dates

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, about 32 million people in the US have food allergies, which means allergy friendly food brands not only have a large audience base, but are also necessities. In this episode of the Xtalks Food Podcast, Sydney talks about three popular allergy friendly food companies: Partake Foods, Enjoy Life and Free2b Foods. Each company offers a wide variety of sweet and savory snack foods free from all major allergens while prioritizing taste and quality ingredients. Sydney asks the team whether they think we’ll see large food and beverage companies offering allergen-free versions of popular snacks or whether smaller allergy friendly companies will have a monopoly over the space. The team also wonder whether there are any allergy friendly meal kit companies since the space is mainly comprised of snack food companies. 

Also, in this episode, Sydney asks whether best before dates could be contributing to food waste. While food and beverage manufacturers have used the labels for decades to estimate peak freshness, consumers are confused about date codes, often causing more food waste than necessary. Unlike ‘use by’ dates, which can be found on perishable food items like meat, dairy and produce, best before dates have nothing to do with food safety and may encourage consumers to throw out food that is perfectly safe to eat. To tackle this problem, some UK grocery chains recently removed best before dates from pre-packaged fruits and vegetables. The team wonder whether it was the right decision to remove best before dates altogether but conclude that it’s best to use the senses to determine whether food is safe to eat. 

Read the full articles here:

Top 3 Allergy Friendly Food Brands

Are Best Before Dates on Food Packaging to Blame for Food Waste?

For more food and beverage industry content, visit the Xtalks Vitals homepage.

Follow Us on Social Media 

Twitter: @XtalksFood
Instagram: @Xtalks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Xtalks.Webinars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xtalks-webconferences
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/XtalksWebinars/featured