prevalence is increasing or not, food allergy awareness has definitely increased, with impacts on the quality of life for children, their parents and their immediate caregivers. in the united states, the food allergen labeling and consumer protection act (falcpa), passed in august 2004 and effective january 1, 2006, causes people to be reminded of allergy problems every time they handle a food package, and restaurants have added allergen warnings to menus. the culinary institute of america, a premier school for chef training, has courses in allergen-free cooking and a separate teaching kitchen. school systems have protocols about what foods can be brought into the school. despite all these precautions, people with serious allergies are aware that accidental exposure can easily occur at other peoples' houses, at school or in restaurants. regulation of labeling an example of "may contain traces of..." as a means of listing trace amounts of allergens in a food product due to cross-contamination during manufacture. in response to the risk that certain foods pose to those with food allergies, some countries have responded by instituting 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. nevertheless, there are no labeling laws to mandatory declare the presence of trace amounts in the final product as a consequence of cross-contamination. ingredients intentionally added falcpa requires companies to disclose on the label whether a packaged food product contains any of these eight major food allergens, added intentionally: cow's milk, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, fish, tree nuts, soy and wheat. this list originated in 1999 from the world health organisation 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, for example "casein (milk)," or as an alternative, there must be a statement separate but adjacent to the ingredients list: "contains milk" (and any other of the allergens with mandatory labeling).