Not being able to eat out without worrying about the safety of my food inspired me to become an advocate for food allergy awareness. Eating out at restaurants, ordering Doordash or going to ice cream parlors have been the biggest challenge for me. When eating at restaurants, staff and waiters often don't know all of the ingredients in a dish, and can't guarantee it is safe for me to eat. On Doordash, many restaurants don't allow you to add comments to an order, so I am not able to add that I have a severe food allergy. At ice cream parlors, they usually use the same scooper to scoop flavors that contain nuts and those that don't, causing cross contamination.

A few years ago, while at camp, we went to an ice cream shop in Cooperstown, NY. I expected to not be able to eat anything, but to my surprise, the shop had all of the ingredients and allergens listed for each flavor. The shop took food allergies very seriously, and I was so happy to be able to have ice cream with my friends. 

When I got home from camp, I told my mom about the shop and thought it would be great if there was a law that required restaurants to list all of their ingredients. My mom and I decided to look into it and found that there was already a food labeling law in progress. I contacted the woman who originated the bill and she invited me to go to Albany in May of 2023 to help advocate for the bill, and other bills that would help those suffering from food allergies. While in Albany, I along with other advocates, met with Senators and Assembly Members to tell them our personal stories and explain why the food labeling bill and other bills were so important.

**SIDEBAR**

Every year there is legislation proposed to help New Yorkers suffering from Food Allergies. In order for a bill to become law, it must pass the Assembly and the Senate. On May 14th, Food Allergy Awareness Day, I joined other advocates in Albany to gain support for the passing of these important bills. I met with Senators and Assembly Members, and told them my story, and those of others like me who suffer from food allergies. The goal is to convince the legislators to sponsor a bill and to vote to pass it. 

The bills we advocated for this year are:

• Insurance/Price Cap - Requires health insurance plans to provide coverage for epinephrine auto-injector devices; caps the cost to an insured at $100 per year (Cost today is almost $700)

• Labeling - Requires all food establishments that are selling food pre-packaged on premises (POS) to label food for major food allergens

• Large Venue Epi Stocking- Requires venue seating more than 1,000 to stock Epipens and have at least one employee on hand fully trained on when & how to use it

• Epinephrine Preparedness Initiative - First responder epinephrine access program, authorizes commissioner of health to establish a municipal bulk purchase program, funded by private contributions (Currently not all first responders have an Epi-pen)

• Public Access - Provides public access to epinephrine auto-injector devices at schools; establishes public access epinephrine auto-injector device providers.