Last month we reported on the new Picky Eater iPhone Application, but this month we have some new information and a review of this inexpensive resource to report. Picky Eater has been renamed to "Allergy Guard" (same product, new identity) and an Allergy Guard Lite has been released for free. The full application is just $1.99, and it sounds to be worth it according to our dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free shopping mom and reviewer, Sarena:

"As anyone who has food allergies or intolerances knows, going to the grocery store and looking at the ingredient list of products can be overwhelming and confusing.  Seriously, I don't know what some of that stuff means.  My new rule of thumb is...if we don't know what it is or how to pronounce it, it goes back on the shelf ...

You should have seen us shopping when we first found out  my husband has celiac disease.  We would stand in the middle of the isles reading and googling things on our phones to see what those crazy words were.  I even called the companies a couple of times when we had no idea if the product was safe or not.  You know when you are told you can't have something the craving gets pretty bad.  By the end of some of those shopping trips we had no idea who was allergic or intolerant to what!  The trips took hours to get a little bit of shopping done too! 

So, when I was asked to review the Allergy Guard App, I immediately said yes!  Food allergen information at our fingertips...heck yeah!  Not that it will change my views on eating things that are closer to their original form, but everyone craves something that may not be so natural and it is nice to know that you can find out what is in all those crazy words!  I have to say, this app is very useful!  When you click on the allergen button, you get a list of the allergens in alphabetical order.  You scroll down to get to the word you are looking for and then click on that.  It tells you what it is made from and all of the possible allergens that are associated with it.  This definitely helps identify sneaky ingredients that you might not know in your favorite foods!  You can also store allergen information that is specific to certain people.  

Now I can shop a little safer!" - This is a third party review by Sarena Shasteen of The Non-Dairy Queen.

For more information and screen-shots of Allergy Guard, visit:
http://www.cookingallergyfree.com/articles/Picky+Eater+for+the+iPhone+Now+Available

Or, to purchase from the app store, visit:
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=MfhTU1GSoZI&offerid=146261.810072229&type=10&subid