Parents of kids with food allergies cannot quickly verify if a packaged food is safe at the grocery store

A parent whose child has a peanut allergy picks up a granola bar at the grocery store. They flip it over and read the ingredient list — 30+ items in 6-point font. They look for bolded allergen warnings. The label says 'may contain traces of tree nuts' but the child is allergic to peanuts specifically, not tree nuts. Is this safe? They Google the brand name + 'peanut allergy.' They find conflicting Reddit posts. They put the granola bar back and buy the same brand they always buy. This happens 5-10 times per grocery trip, adding 20-30 minutes per shopping session. So what? 32 million Americans have food allergies, including 5.6 million children. Their families restrict their diets to a tiny set of 'known safe' products because verifying new products is so time-consuming and anxiety-inducing. Kids eat the same 10 foods for years because parents cannot efficiently vet new options. Allergic reactions from mislabeled or misunderstood food send 200,000 people to the ER annually. Why does this persist in the first place? FDA labeling law (FALCPA) requires declaration of the top 9 allergens but 'may contain' / 'processed in a facility' warnings are voluntary and inconsistent — companies use them as legal protection regardless of actual cross-contamination risk. There is no standardized, machine-readable allergen database for packaged foods. Barcode scanning apps (Yummly, Fooducate) exist but have incomplete allergen data and do not account for 'may contain' warnings or facility-level cross-contamination.