New Android App Helps Fast Food Consumers Avoid Common Allergens

Android allergics rejoice! Hold The Allergen (HTA), a new application just released on the Android Market, helps allergy-ridden eaters decide which fast-food menu items to eat or NOT to eat based on the product’s ingredients.

If you have ever tried looking up ingredients or nutritional information on that hidden back wall of a fast-food/fast-casual restaurant, you know it can become pretty tiresome in a hurry. This application attempts to relieve that annoyance by putting ingredient information in the palm of your hand, allowing consumers to make quicker and safer eating decisions on the fly.

Currently HTA has nutritional information for seven popular national fast-food/fast-casual restaurant chains including Burger King, Carl’s Jr, Chipotle, Domino’s, Five Guys, Jack In The Box and Subway. All of the staple menu items of the aforementioned brands seem to be available, but I did notice that brand new items, like Burger King’s Ranch Crispy Chicken Wrap or Jack In The Box’s Chipotle Chicken Club, were not listed.

It is still unknown how fast the application will update with new menu items, which will be crucial since the chosen restaurants implement dozens of new products every year. Seven restaurants is a decent start, but there are numerous more to be added if HTA wants to be considered a comprehensive resource. McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Panda Express, In-N-Out to name a few of the chains we’d love to see added to the application.