FARE Bows to Public Pressure with About-Face on Two Disastrous Policy Decisions

In response to public pressure regarding critical missteps that ran contrary to their mission, Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) has reversed their stance on two important issues.

Reversal on Legislation

First is FARE’s stance on California SB68 — known as the ADDE Act — a grassroots effort spearheaded by 9-year-old Addie Lao, who has severe food allergies. The bill would require restaurants to list all of the FDA’s Top 9 allergen ingredients in each dish on their menus, providing information not currently available to diners with food allergies to help keep them safe.

Most major food allergy advocacy groups supported the legislation, including the American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Kids with Food Allergies (KFA), the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT), the Food Allergy Nursing Association (FANA), and many others, as well as SnackSafely.

Instead of simply refusing to support the legislation they had issues with that would have fostered much-needed transparency for diners, FARE testified in opposition to the bill. Here’s what Craig Fontenot, Chief of Staff and Mission Integration at FARE, testified on April 9, 2025:

Unfortunately, SB 68 focuses narrowly on menus as a point of risk disclosure—but menus cannot capture allergen risks introduced through sourcing, manufacturing, or cross-contact during prep in kitchens. As written, the bill would create a false sense of security for food allergy families.

What FARE failed to disclose during their testimony was the partnership they announced the day before with EveryBite, an e-commerce platform designed for restaurants, which SB68 would have impacted.

The food allergy community was up in arms after the testimony, prompting FARE’s CEO, Dr Sung Poblete, to schedule a town hall meeting in an attempt to calm the hostility voiced toward FARE’s opposition. In attendance were over 100 food allergy advocates, many of whom expressed their outrage at FARE’s actions regarding the bill. Despite Dr Poblete’s repeated calls for unity within the food allergy community, the meeting had the opposite effect, further infuriating the attendees.

Recently, in a face-saving move, FARE issued a press release on July 18 entitled “FARE Updates Position on California Bill SB 68 to Support”, where Dr Poblete made the following claim:

FARE has always supported the intent of the bill, but the legislation needed to be strengthened so that it could work in real-world restaurant settings and enable safer dining experiences for the food allergy community. We have continued to engage with Senator Menjivar’s office and other stakeholders over the past several months and while there is more work to be done, it’s much closer to what is needed. We are so pleased with the progress that has been made.

Although FARE has remained silent on the legislative changes that purportedly allowed them to shift from opposition to support, we are pleased the organization has reversed its stance.

Reversal on Sifter App Partnership

In November 2022, FARE announced a partnership with Sifter SP, a shopping platform designed to “help make shopping easier and less time-consuming” for individuals with food allergies. FARE even co-branded the Sifter app with its logo, stating in a press release:

Now, using Sifter’s robust, science-based shopping platform, food-allergic individuals and families can make better food decisions and save hours of time when grocery shopping. In addition, the platform is accurate and easy to use, giving peace of mind to those with even the most restrictive dietary challenges.

However, SnackSafely.com’s analysis of the app found that it recommended products based solely on voluntary label disclosures even when those products were manufactured on lines where allergens of concern were processed. Despite our repeated objections, FARE continued to promote the app, necessitating periodic reminders from us to our readers that the app was not safe for use by individuals with food allergies who relied on it to keep them safe from cross-contact.

Annoyed at our continued warnings, Dr Poblete made the following claim in a press release in February 2023:

As referenced in our statement in December, we continue to maintain that the Sifter platform is an additional educational tool and product option that can provide an initial screen toward identifying foods that are potentially allergy safe, and aid in screening out unsafe foods. To be clear, there is no one tool that can ever replace the essential practices of reviewing product labels every time a food is purchased and consumed, and contacting manufacturers with specific questions about food allergen ingredients in their products.

That claim directly contradicted their announcement that “the platform is accurate and easy to use, giving peace of mind to those with even the most restrictive dietary challenges.” Furthermore, their reason for opposition to the ADDE Act contradicted their support for Sifter as evidenced by FARE’s statement that “menus cannot capture allergen risks introduced through sourcing, manufacturing, or cross-contact during prep in kitchens. As written, the bill would create a false sense of security for food allergy families.” This begs the question: Why would FARE endorse an app that provides shoppers the same false sense of security they find unsuitable for diners?

Following up to our latest periodic advisory about Sifter, we received the following from a reader who contacted FARE asking for more information and got this reply from John Chiuco, FARE’s Director of Individual Giving and Partnerships:

Thank you so much for reaching out to us and sharing your concerns regarding the Sifter app. I appreciate your long-time support for our work on behalf of the food allergy community. The Sifter app connection to FARE you saw was from a past and now long ended partnership. It does not reflect FARE’s dedication to supporting food allergy patients on our journey of managing the disease, nor the vision of our CEO Dr. Sung Poblete.

I am so sorry for the delay in responding to you, I passed along your concerns to our leadership so we can take action. As a result of you alerting us, we reached out to Sifter and asked them to take down any mention of working with FARE. Please rest assured that this is not the way we do business. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to correct the mistake with Sifter.

Once again, we are pleased that FARE has finally stopped promoting an app that could routinely put people with food allergies in danger. Having taken this step, we now urge them to inform all users that the organization no longer supports Sifter so that those who mistakenly rely on the app because of FARE’s original support will know to stop doing so.

Dave Bloom
CEO, SnackSafely.com

Do you have thoughts about FARE’s recent actions and reversals? Let us know in the comments section below.