the most widely used food additives worldwide as one of eight foods having mandatory precautionary labeling. school systems have protocols about foods with potential allergenicity. despite these precautions, people with serious allergies are aware that accidental exposure can easily occur in family homes, school or restaurants. food fear has a significant impact on quality of life. for children with allergies, their quality of life may be affected by peers. bullying may occur, including threats or acts of deliberately being touched with allergenic foods. despite these trends and concerns, most children having soy allergy during their early years will outgrow soy sensitivity. regulation of labelling an example of a list of allergens in a food item in response to the risk that certain foods pose to those with food allergies, some countries have established labeling laws that require food products to clearly inform consumers if their products contain major allergens or byproducts of major allergens among the ingredients intentionally added to foods. except in canada and brazil, there are no labeling laws to declare the presence of trace amounts in the final product as a consequence of cross-contamination. ingredients intentionally added in the united states, the food allergen labeling and consumer protection act of 2004 (falcpa) requires companies to disclose on the label whether a packaged food product contains any of the eight most common food allergens, added intentionally: cow milk, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, fish, tree nuts, soy and wheat. this list originated in 1999 from the world health organization codex alimentarius commission. to meet falcpa labeling requirements, if an ingredient is derived from one of the required-label allergens, then it must either have its "food sourced name" in parentheses, such as "soy," or as an alternative, there must be a statement separate but adjacent to the ingredients list: "contains soy" (and any other of the allergens with mandatory labeling). the fda emphasizes to consumers that "it's very important to read the entire ingredient list to see if your allergen is present". the european union requires listing of soy and seven other common allergens, plus other potentially allergenic foods. falcpa applies to packaged foods regulated by the fda and by the food safety and inspection service (fsis), which requires that any ingredient be declared in the labeling only by its common or usual name. neither the identification of the source of a specific ingredient in a parenthetical statement nor the use of statements to alert for the presence of specific ingredients, like "contains: soy", is mandatory, according to fsis. falcpa does not apply to food prepared in restaurants. the eu food information for consumers regulation 1169/2011 requires food businesses to provide allergy information on food sold as unpackaged in public food outlets. products that are not allergen labeled while many countries require allergen warnings on labels of food containing soy ingredients, such labeling requirements may not apply to certain food and personal care items containing soy ingredients, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics. without actually ingesting an allergen, a person allergic to soy would not likely have a reaction. trace amounts as a result of cross-contamination labeling regulations in the european union require mandatory labeling of certain ingredients, and allow voluntary labeling, termed precautionary allergen labeling (pal) for "may contain" statements to account for product ingredients included as inadvertent, trace amount or cross-contamination during production. pal labeling may be confusing to consumers, possibly due to variations of wording on labels. the european union initiated a process to create labeling regulations for unintentional contamination, although it may not be official until 2024. the us fda requires reporting by government inspectors and manufacturers to reduce or eliminate the potential cross-contact of product ingredients, including soy, and to state possible cross-contamination on food labels, using the words "may contain". genetically modified soybeans although there have been concerns that gmo soybeans might produce new or more allergic reactions than conventionally grown soybeans, a 2017 review, reporting on 20 years of analysis on gm crops, showed that allergenic proteins were unchanged in gm soybeans, indicating gm soybeans were safe, nutritious, and had similar low-allergenicity for food consumption in the general public as conventional soybeans. the same review concluded that consuming gm foods, including foods derived from gm soy, does not cause new allergies to develop. in 2018, a european food safety authority scientific panel on gmo reported that the gmo soybean, vistive gold (mon 87751, produced by monsanto as an insect-resistant crop used worldwide), had no unusual allergenicity. the food and agriculture organization of the united nations and health canada also determined that mon 87751 soybeans had as low allergenicity as conventional soybeans.