The Cost of Food Allergies: A Tale of Two Trolleys

Meet Sarah. She’s a mum with two hungry kids at home. Every week she hits the supermarket and fills up her trolley with all the usual staples for a family: bread, milk, pasta, sausages, breakfast cereal, biscuits and flour, along with some fresh fruit and veg.

Now meet Karen. She’s also a mum with two hungry kids at home. Every week she hits the supermarket and fills up her trolley with all the usual staples for a family… You get the picture. She shops in the same supermarket as Sarah. But her weekly shop costs more. She’s not a food snob, she’s not buying luxury brands, and nor is she a greedy pig – but her family has food allergies and intolerances. This means that some of the products she buys to cater for her family’s food allergies cost as much as 6 times more than their regular counterparts.

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