With as many as 1 in 10 Australian infants suffering from a food allergy, Food Allergy Week is an annual national campaign by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA) that helps promote and develop the awareness of food allergy and anaphylactic reactions amongst Australians.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and GS1 Australia are pleased to support Food Allergy Week 2013 and are calling on? all companies within the food and grocery industry to get on board with the latest tool to help consumers access trusted food product allergen information – GS1 GoScan.
Launched for free download in March this year, GS1 GoScan is Australia's first whole-of-industry endorsed smartphone application that enables consumers to know if a food product suits their special dietary needs with a simple scan of a bar code.
Developed in association with major retailers, local and international food companies, the AFGC, Australian universities and national health organisations including Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, the app helps consumers with allergies, intolerances and special diets by giving them more information about their food – direct from the manufacturer.
GS1 Australia CEO Maria Palazzolo said: "GS1 Australia has gone to extreme lengths in working with key groups, including the AFGC and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia to produce a tool that shares accurate information on food ingredient content and food allergy."
Food allergic consumers continue to benefit from the food manufacturing industry's long and successful track-record of working collaboratively to ensure safer food choices, the AFGC said today.
AFGC CEO Gary Dawson said: "The AFGC believes that the introduction of the GS1 GoScan smartphone app will play an important part in responding to consumer demand for greater information on products. This app is a good example of innovation being used by food manufacturers to provide rich data to consumers that would otherwise be restricted by the size and shape of a physical label."
The AFGC continues as an active member of the Allergen Collaboration contributing to a shared approach to allergen management while GS1 Australia continues to work with manufacturers and brand owners to upload and maintain their data for use in GS1 GoScan and invites companies to participate for the benefit of consumers.
