RA Allergens wins Rep. Andy Barr’s 2022 Congressional App Challenge in Kentucky’s Sixth District

When asked what inspired the creation of RA Allergens, the students said, ”Our application is the result of problems we have personally faced. When eating out, it can be nearly impossible to tell what foods have which allergens without asking the waiter or the cook himself. Especially with uncommon food hypersensitivities, this can be a serious hassle. It is unlikely that a diner or restaurant would have nutrition labels on their food so it is also a difficult situation for vegetarians and people who are avoiding certain foods for religious reasons. This is a much more serious problem than many would think and we feel as though it could be extremely useful to the people in the aforementioned categories. We have personally used the app several times and have distributed it to friends and family members who find it very helpful. There is no other application that assists you with this. It is estimated that nearly a tenth of the world possesses serious food hypersensitivities and over half of the world cannot eat some type of meat for personal, moral, or religious reasons. Many of these people struggle to eat anything they did not make themselves because they are unsure if it contains foods they cannot eat. I have had many personal experiences with this as well as seen people close to me suffer from the same thing. Our app solves this problem; no matter what food you cannot eat, it is almost guaranteed that our database tracks it to some degree. Even very vague and unknown disorders which most of the world is never exposed to are tracked by our application’s backend. If our database does not contain it, then it uses a very complex algorithm to parse the internet for your allergen or hypersensitivity. Because of these two things, you can be sure that the food you are eating will not harm you in any way and will not counteract your personal ethical and religious beliefs.”