The FDA is signaling a shift in its 2026 agenda

By Ilana Golant, Food Allergy Fund Founder and CEO

January 31, 2026 - With plans to review harmful additives, expand front-of-package and online labeling, strengthen infant food standards, and improve formula access, the FDA is signaling a shift toward prevention and transparency in its 2026 agenda.

This matters because the immune system is shaped early by diet, the microbiome, and environmental exposures—long before diseases like food allergy emerge.

For years, the Food Allergy Fund has advanced this science by funding high-risk research on immune development, the microbiome, and prevention, and by convening leaders across science, policy, and industry. Seeing regulatory priorities begin to reflect this evidence is an important step forward.

But policy alone isn’t enough. Regulatory reform must move alongside discovery to translate early-life science into real-world prevention for children and families.

At our recent D.C. Leadership Forum, including conversations with FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Markary, we heard clearly: policy only matters if it changes what families experience day to day.

When science and policy move together, we can make food safer and easier to navigate, prevent more allergies from developing, improve treatment today, and accelerate progress toward a cure.

The FDA will host a mid-February public meeting on food allergen thresholds—exploring when “may contain” labels should be used. Clear, science-based thresholds could help families make more informed choices. Transparency in how thresholds are set will be critical.

At the Food Allergy Fund Leadership Forum, Dr. Markary shared why early-life exposures and microbiome science should inform modern policy.