Rising Food and Diet Adverse Events in United States Children: A Call for Better Food Labeling and Nutrition Documentation

Abstract

Since 2004 in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Adverse Event Reporting System, serious adverse events associated with food products among youth have increased, peaking at a 15.5-fold rise. These findings underscore the need for clearer food labeling and standardized electronic medical record documentation of diet and allergies to validate Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Adverse Event Reporting System findings, strengthen patient safety, clinical care, and public health responses during crises, and leverage electronic medical record or health system data to better identify risk factors, causal mechanisms, and opportunities for prevention.