Several studies have shown that the current prevalence of food allergy in 
Western Europe is about 4% and will further increase. Because of missing 
therapeutic alternatives, food allergy patients are required to identify 
individual allergens in the daily food by carefully reading the product's 
ingredient lists. Experiences with other chronic diseases show that a 
combination of telemedicine and Disease Management (DM) could have a positive 
impact on medical outcome and health related costs. A new concept of 
telemedicine support for allergy patients and allergists has been elaborated 
within the Luxembourgian MENSSANA project. Instead of measuring physiological 
parameters, a Smartphone based Personal Allergy Assistant (PAA) allows patients 
to keep an electronic patient diary by scanning the barcode of the consumed food 
products. For diagnostic purpose, the diary is regularly transmitted to the 
allergist's electronic patient record. To further support the individual diet 
management, the PAA gives a warning before consumption of allergenic food. 
Computer readable food ingredient lists are required for the PAA diet 
management. To collect this kind of information, a dedicated web-based "virtual 
community" of food consumers and producers (www.wikifood.eu) has been 
established. This volunteer network complements an independent product database. 
Up to now, more than 13.000 food descriptions are public available within 
wikifood.eu.