Investigation of undeclared food allergens in commercial Thai food products update after enforcing food allergen labeling regulation

Abstract

Our study demonstrated that enforcement of the food allergen labeling regulation in Thailand provided high impact on food allergen labeling of commercial food products. A total of 106 commercial food products were examined for undeclared egg, milk, wheat and peanut allergens. Our examination verified that in 92.8% of the products undeclared allergens were not detected and the labeling was appropriate. Enforcement of the regulation decreased the percentage of undeclared food allergens to 7.22% from 18.9% observed in our previous study. The percentage of significant allergen content (≥10 ppm, which is potentially hazardous) was 11 out of 346 analyses (3.18%), compared with our previous study at 55 out of 529 (10.4%). Two products were found with significantly high undeclared analyses (≥10,000 ppm). These were suspected of intentional addition of food allergen. Our studies investigated the common causes of undeclared food allergens. Thirty-two out of 106 collected products adopted precautionary labeling for egg, milk, wheat and peanuts. ELISA examination of precautionary labeling products found 3 indications (out of 51 precautionary indications) that indicated allergens, while in the remaining 48 products indications were not detected. Our results demonstrated that enforcement of the Thai food allergen labeling regulation promoted the implementation of allergen labeling and positively contribute to allowing individuals with allergies to choose safe food.