Background: In Canada, anaphylaxis-level food allergy constitutes a legal disability. Yet, no nationwide policies exist to support families. We sought to understand what parents of children with food allergy perceive as the most pressing food allergy-related policy concerns in Canada.
Methods: Between March-June 2019, we interviewed 23 families whose food allergic children (N = 28mean age 7.9 years) attending an allergy clinic in Winnipeg, Canada. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using content analysis.
Results: Over 40% of children had multiple food allergies, representing most of Health Canada's priority allergens. We identified four themes: (1) High prevalence. High priority?. (2) Food labels can be misleading, (3) Costs and creative ideas, and (4) Do we have to just deal with the status quo around allergies?
Conclusion: Food allergy ought to be a national policy priority, to improve the process for precautionary labelling, to improve funding, educational tools access to care, and knowledge of current allergy guidelines.
Keywords: Children; Food allergy; Patient-oriented research; Perceived needs; Policy; Qualitative.