Food allergy management among restaurant workers in a large U.S. city

Oct 2, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

We assessed restaurant workers' knowledge and practices regarding food allergy management and adverse events, which result in 90,000 emergency department visits annually in the United States. We surveyed all eligible restaurants within a defined catchment in Philadelphia and 80.3% (n = 187) participated. No restaurant employee named all seven best practices to reduce risk. Most participants could name only zero or one preventive measure, and few knew to respond to anaphylaxis with epinephrine and calling 9-1-1. Public health professionals should collaborate with industry and workers to evaluate and revise relevant policies and training to protect affected consumers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Food allergy burden and risk

Food safety controls across the production chain

Restaurant and consumer contexts

Methods (overview)

Restaurant survey and participation

Findings (overview)

Knowledge of best practices

Response to anaphylaxis

Food Control 63 (2016) 147e157 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Control journal [homepage:](homepage: www. elsevier. com/locate/foodcont)[ www. elsevier. com/locate/foodcont](homepage: www. elsevier. com/locate/foodcont) | Food allergy management among restaurant workers in a large U.S. city
Roxanne Dupuis a, b, Zachary Meisel a, c, d, David Grande a, d, e, Emily Strupp a, b,
Sarah Kounaves a, b, Amy Graves a, b, Rosemary Frasso a, b, d, Carolyn C. Cannuscio a, b, d, f, *
a Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard, Building 421, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA b Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
c Department of Emergency Medicine, Ground Floor Ravdin, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA d Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 3641 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
e Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3641 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
f Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | a r t i c l e i n f o | | a b s t r a c t | | | Article history:
Received 25 August 2015
Received in revised form
12 November 2015
Accepted 15 November 2015
Available online 26 November 2015 | | We assessed restaurant workers' knowledge and practices regarding food allergy management and adverse events, which result in 90,000 emergency department visits annually in the United States. We surveyed all eligible restaurants within a deﬁned catchment in Philadelphia and 80.3% (n ¼ 187) participated. No restaurant employee was able to name all seven “best practices” to reduce the risk of food allergy adverse events in restaurants. The majority of participants could name only zero or one preventive measure. Few participants knew to respond to anaphylaxis by administering epinephrine and calling 9-1-1. Public health professionals should work with the restaurant industry, and with food service workers, to evaluate and revise food allergy-relevant policies and trainings. This is critical to protect the 15 million American consumers, and far more globally, who suffer from food allergies.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | | | Keywords: Food allergy
Anaphylaxis Prevention Restaurant | | | | 1. Introduction An estimated 15 million Americans and 17 million Europeans suffer from food allergies (Food Allergy Research & Education, 2014), which vary in severity and can be serious enough to be life threatening (Turnbull, Adams, & Gorard, 2014). There are approximately 90,000 emergency department visits in the United States (U.S.) annually because of anaphylactic reactions to food (Clark, Espinola, Rudders, Banerji, & Camargo, 2011). To prevent adverse events, people with food allergies must diligently avoid allergenic foods, which depends upon food safety controls throughout the food production chain. Food allergen safety begins with producers and growers, and continues to include manufacturers, distributors, and transporters, as well as retailers, * Corresponding author. Anatomy and Chemistry Building, Room 145, 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, 19104, PA, USA. E-mail addresses: [rdupuis@mail.med.upenn.edu](rdupuis@mail.med.upenn.edu) (R. Dupuis), zachary.meisel@ [uphs.upenn.edu](uphs.upenn.edu) (Z. Meisel), [dgrande@wharton.upenn.edu](dgrande@wharton.upenn.edu) (D. Grande), strupp. [emily@gmail.com](emily@gmail.com) (E. Strupp), [sarah.kounaves@gmail.com](sarah.kounaves@gmail.com) (S. Kounaves), [amygraves84@gmail.com](amygraves84@gmail.com) (A. Graves), [rofrasso@mail.med.upenn.edu](rofrasso@mail.med.upenn.edu) (R. Frasso), [cannusci@wharton.upenn.edu](cannusci@wharton.upenn.edu) (C.C. Cannuscio).

FAQs

What was the study assessing regarding restaurant workers?

The study assessed workers' knowledge and practices for managing food allergy and preventing adverse events in restaurant settings.

How many restaurants participated in the Philadelphia survey?

All eligible restaurants in a defined Philadelphia catchment were surveyed, and 80.3% (n = 187) participated.

What did the study find about workers’ knowledge of best practices?

No employee could name all seven best practices, and most participants could name only zero or one preventive measure.

What specific anaphylaxis response did few participants know?

Few participants knew to respond to anaphylaxis by administering epinephrine and calling 9-1-1.

Oct 2, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob