AllerGen researchers launch food allergy app for youth

Kung Food, a food allergy app for youth and teens that was developed with AllerGen support, is now available in the Mac App Store and on Google Play.

*L to R:* Shauna Filuk and Nancy Ross of the CAAEC demo the app at CSACI Annual Meeting

The mobile application aims to improve the knowledge and skills of youth living with food allergies. It features a quick reference allergy guide, an allergy attack simulator and allergy trivia games. The app is socially integrated, allowing users to build, educate and engage their own support groups.

The app was developed with AllerGen support by researchers at the Children’s Allergy & Asthma Education Centre (CAAEC), a program of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Heath at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg, under the leadership of AllerGen investigator Dr. Allan Becker.

Collaborators on the project include AllerGen legacy partner Food Allergy Canada and its Youth Advisory Panel, as well as Tactica Interactive, a digital media company that specializes in cross-platform digital media strategy and products for researchers.

Shauna Filuk, a Nurse Educator from CAAEC, presented an abstract about the app—“Development of a Food Allergy App for School Age Children and Teens at Risk for Food-Induced Anaphylaxis”—at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI) in Halifax in September 2018.