Declaration Of Allergens Research Articles

ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE LA DECLARACIÓN DE ALÉRGENOS Y FRASES DE ADVERTENCIA EN RÓTULOS DE ALIMENTOS ENTRE LOS AÑOS 2019 Y 2022

ABSTRACT Introduction: the labeling of food allergens in products is today one of the issues that generates great concern in the population. Objective: was to evaluate how different companies adapted to current legislation on allergens in Argentina. Materials and methods: in 2019, sixteen sweet and salty food products were surveyed, coded as: ME, MN, TO, PA, GD, F, MLV, QM, BB, BT, TR, TM, PFK, BQK, CHB and CM. To compare the allergen declarations, in mid-2022 the sixteen products were surveyed again, finding three discontinued products. The analysis of the label included verification of compliance with the allergen declaration, use of warning phrases (FA), and presentation of information. Results and Discution: in 2019, the declaration of allergens includes expressions such as: “contains gluten”, in 50% of the products analyzed. On the other hand, in five of the fifteen products with FA, there are expressions such as "may contain traces...". Likewise, it is included in five products, sesame, an allergen contemplated by legislations other than Argentina. Regarding the presence of sulfur dioxide and sulphites, there are two products that declare them below the list of ingredients and two other products that declare sulphites in their warning phrases. When analyzing the labels in 2022, 80% of the analyzed products do not present inconsistencies with regard to the presentation of the information. Conclusions: in the comparative study, an improvement is observed in the correct declaration of allergens and warning phrases. However, more than five years after the end of the period granted to the industries for the adaptation of the labels for an adequate declaration of allergens, some errors persist in them. Keywords: food allergen; food labeling; Argentine food code; food allergy; allergen labeling.

The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products.

Branded food composition databases (BFCDs) are valuable information tools that meet multiple user needs. Recently, recognising allergies and intolerances as an emerging concern for various stakeholders, BFCDs evolve to embed information on allergens. This study aims to expand the Greek BFCD, HelTH, to include allergen information for its 4002 products. A new file was added to the structure of HelTH, and data were curated to record label information. In 68.4% of products, at least one allergen was present in the ingredient list and in 38.9% at least one allergen in a precautionary statement. Milk (38.8%), gluten (32.7%), and soybeans (17.4%) were most commonly declared in the ingredient list; nuts (18.3%), eggs (13.1%), and milk (12.2%) were most commonly declared in precautionary statements. Allergen-free claims were present in 5.3% of the products and referred mostly on gluten and milk. In general, no statistically significant differences were identified between the nutritional composition of allergen-free claimed products and their equivalents. This study delivers an expanded BFCD that provides organised and detailed allergen information; new insights on the presence of food allergens in branded foods and issues of concern regarding allergen declaration that need to be addressed in order to improve label information.

An International First: Stakeholder Consensus Statement for Food Allergen Management in Packaged Foods and Food Service for Australia and New Zealand

Food-allergic consumers encounter inadequate, confusing, and ambiguous allergen information for packaged and unpackaged foods. Key Australian and New Zealand allergy organizations convened multiple forums to facilitate discussions among consumers, food manufacturers, food retailers, regulatory bodies, researchers, and health professionals to develop a unified approach to improving food allergen management. The following stakeholder consensus statement provides a foundation for advocacy for improved food allergen management and safety. It is the responsibility of consumers to: 1. declare their food allergies and read food labels (including ingredient lists and allergen declaration statements), and 2. ultimately make their own judgment about the foods they choose to consume. We consider that to enable consumers to make informed decisions about their safety, It is the responsibility of packaged food manufacturers to: 1. follow robust allergen management practices including quantitative risk assessment, and 2. use clear, consistent labeling to inform consumers about that food's allergen content, including the possible presence of unintended allergens. It is the responsibility of food service establishments and providers to: 1. follow robust allergen management practices, and 2. ensure that staff understand and can inform consumers about the allergen content of the food they provide, including the possible presence of unintended allergens.

How do food businesses provide information on allergens in non-prepacked foods? A cross-sectional survey in Switzerland

Summary Purpose This project aimed to investigate allergen information practices of food businesses selling non-prepacked foods after the implementation of the new Swiss food law in May 2017. Methods A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted with food businesses selling non-prepacked foods in Switzerland. A short, standardised questionnaire was developed in German, based on previous research and literature. It was subsequently translated into French and Italian. Altogether, 882 businesses (restaurants, dairies, butcher shops and bakeries) were contacted, of which 387 were willing to participate. SPSS® (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) was used for statistical analyses. Results The vast majority (86.0%) of food businesses provides oral allergen information. Only 14.0% currently provide written allergen information to the customer, either upfront or on request. The most frequently used labelling system in written allergen declaration was naming all ingredients (35.2%). A significant number (39.8%) do not place a notice on how to obtain allergen information, although this is a legal requirement in Switzerland when not providing written information upfront. Conclusion So far, not all food businesses have been complying with the new Swiss food law on allergen information of non-prepacked food. Therefore, awareness of the legal obligations around communicating allergen information as well as the verification of its implementation should be enhanced. To meet the needs of consumers and avoid reactions, some form of written allergen information should be promoted. Giving this information on request might encourage communication between customer and staff, thus providing an extra measure of verification.

Controlling cross‐contamination by food allergens

Controlling cross‐contamination by food allergens

Libro Healthy Towns' - A food business protocol for nutrition and allergen declaration

Abstract‘Libro Healthy Towns’ is a joint public health initiative developed under the Healthy Ireland Charter. The initiative ultimately aims to improve the food environment and support informed food choices through technology. Food businesses are required by EU regulation 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers, to provide allergen information on foods served. Calorie labelling, while not required, has been established as a strong public desire. This study aims to establish a protocol for implementation of allergen and nutrition declaration in food outlets. A catchment area was used to identify food businesses that were categorised by service sector and organisational type. Two businesses from each service sector were contacted to establish their willingness to participate in the study. A template was developed to collect the food information necessary for nutrition and allergen declaration including: menu items, component recipes and sub-recipes, recipe ingredients and quantities, cooking methods, servings per recipe and recipe weight following cooking. Facilitated weighing was used to establish ingredient weights. Ingredient specific food information: food name, brand, ingredient list, supplier and food form, were observed from packaging. Foods suitable for analysis using generic composition data were identified. Feedback from food businesses was recorded during recruitment and observationally, during onboarding. Of the 54 food outlets included within the catchment area: 57% were classified as ‘restaurant/takeaway’, 28% ‘restaurant/cafe’, 7% ‘pub/restaurant’, 7% ‘takeaway’ and 4% ‘hotel’. 57% of businesses were ‘multisite’, 43% ‘independent’. Of the 10 businesses contacted, 2 businesses volunteered to take part. (Site A & B; a restaurant/cafe and restaurant/takeaway, respectively). In total, 72 ingredients were used for recipe analysis in site A, most (n = 41) were branded. In total, 75 ingredients were used for recipe analysis in site B, most (n = 73) were generic. Reasons for not participating included: fear that declaring nutrition information would negatively impact sales 12.5%, concern regarding digital security of proprietary recipes 12.5%, limited technological skills 12.5%, no reason 25% and unavailability of a decision maker 37.5%. Furthermore, difficulty measuring ingredients, reluctance to waste food and lack of knowledge of brands purchased were identified as barriers to recipe information collection. This study establishes parameters for implementing nutrition and allergen declaration in food outlets. It highlights challenges to providing and collecting food information. Ensuring that provisions are made to address these will be vital to the success of the ‘Libro Healthy Towns’ public health initiative.

Evaluation of a Real Time PCR Assay and a ELISA Method for the Detection of Walnuts and Almonds Allergen Traces in Food Products

Food allergens are a well acknowledged issue in food industry and are regulated by legislation. The presence of allergens can either origin from the raw material or due to contamination during production. Allergen information on packaging is mandatory although it cannot be accurate in the case of contamination therefore warnings are used. The purpose of the study is the development and validation of a SYBR Green Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction method using specific primer pairs based on Jug r 1, Jug r 3, and Jug r 4 allergen-coding sequences to improve the sensitivity of Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction techniques for detection of walnut and almond traces in commercial food products and its comparison with ELISA methodology in terms of detection ability. A total of 100 samples were collected from local markets and were analyzed by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and ELISA methods. The results indicated that 16 samples (16%) were found positive in walnut traces and 18 samples (18%) were found positive in almond traces by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction of which Elisa identified 14 samples (14%) positive in walnut traces and 15 samples (15%) positive in almond traces. Among them, 4 samples (25%) that contained walnut traces and 6 samples (33.3%) that contained almond traces had no allergen declaration on their label. The improved accuracy of Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction underlines the importance of this method for allergen detection and quantification in the food industry

ADEQUAÇÃO DA ROTULAGEM DE ALERGÊNICOS EM ALIMENTOS PARA ATLETAS

Objetivo: Analisar a declaração de alergênicos em alimentos para atletas comercializados na cidade de Fortaleza, Ceará. Metodologia: Aplicou-se uma checklist baseada na RDC nº 26/2015, totalizando 195 rótulos de alimentos para atletas, avaliados em loja especializada em produtos nutricionais. Os alimentos selecionados foram categorizados conforme a RDC nº 18/2010 e foram expostos à venda durante o mês de outubro de 2017, sendo de diferentes marcas e com constituintes alergênicos apresentados na lista de ingredientes. Resultados: Dos rótulos analisados, 184 (94,36%) eram de fabricação nacional, sendo de 22 marcas diferentes e 11 (5,64%) eram importados, sendo de três marcas diversas. Foram verificadas uma ou mais não conformidades em relação à declaração de alergênicos em 90 (46,15%) rótulos, sendo que as não conformidades foram mais prevalentes em marcas importadas (81,81%) do que nacionais (49,39%) (p = 0,0252). Dentre os 113 rótulos que destacavam a frase de alerta, 108 (95,58%) atendiam às exigências legais em relação à formatação gráfica. Entre os alimentos alergênicos investigados, houve maior prevalência de leite, soja e ovo declarados. Conclusão: Os resultados indicam que os alimentos para atletas possuem elevado percentual de inadequação.DOI: 10.12957/demetra.2019.37247

Food Allergen Labeling: A Latin American Approach.

Food allergy is a public health concern almost all over the world. Although most of the countries that regulate the declaration of allergens in prepackaged foods include the list recommended by the Codex Alimentarius, some countries have added other allergens to this list due to prevalence data and regional incidence, whereas others have incorporated exceptions for some products derived from allergenic foods. Within this context, the situation in Latin America regarding these regulations is diverse. Data about prevalence of food hypersensitivity are very limited in the region. The countries that have established regulations are Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. Argentina has approved a regulation for the labeling of food allergens in November 2016. It only needs to be published in the Official Bulletin to go into effect. All countries follow the Codex list that includes latex and excludes sulfites, except Brazil. On the other hand, Argentina is the only country that includes exceptions. As for the methodologies for the detection of allergens in foods, this issue is a serious problem for both the food industry and control laboratories. Available methodologies are based mainly on commercial ELISA kits; currently, there are no Latin American companies that produce them, so ELISA kits are expensive and their acquisition is complicated. There is an initiative in Argentina to address all these gaps in the region through the Platform of Food Allergens (PFA), a nonprofit organization that integrates health professionals, patients, representatives of the food industry, government, and scientists. The different actions carried out by the PFA have made it possible to contact different scientific groups from other Latin American countries in order to expand this initiative and thereby promote and strengthen both public and private capacities in the region.

Detection of Peanut Allergen Traces with a Real Time PCR Assay - The Challenge to Protect Food-Allergic Consumers

The aim of the present study was the implementation of molecular techniques in the detection and quantification of allergic substances of peanut in various kinds of food products, e.g., breakfast cereals, chocolates and biscuits that are frequently related to allergies. In some cases, the presence of peanuts can be due to contamination during production and are not declared on the label. A total of 152 samples were collected from supermarkets and were analysed by a Real Time PCR method. The results indicated that 125 samples (83,3%) were found positive in peanut traces but the most important finding is that from the 84 samples that had no allergen declaration for peanuts, 48 (57,1%) of them were found positive. In conclusion, Real Time PCR can be a very important tool for the rapid detection and quantification of food allergens.

Food allergen labeling in developing countries: Insights based on current allergen labeling practices in Malawi

Food allergen labeling is an important tool in minimizing the risk of exposure to foods allergens and the resultant adverse effects for individuals with food allergies. Unlike in the industrialized countries, there have been very few studies that have scrutinized food allergen labels and analyzed the robustness of food allergen regulation in developing countries. In the present study, food allergen labeling of 105 supermarket food products in Malawi were evaluated. Furthermore, Malawi’s allergen labeling regulation was compared with Codex general standard on labeling, and regulations in force in the E.U, U.S, and Republic of South Africa. About 54.3% of the surveyed products carried the special allergen declaration in addition to the declaration on the list of ingredients, 23.8% used special emphasis (bolding, italic, contrasting color and enlarged font) when declaring allergens on the ingredient list, and 28.6% used precautionary allergen labeling (PAL). Notably, none of the surveyed locally manufactured products had any of these features. However, all the surveyed products complied with the allergen labeling requirements stipulated in Malawi General Standard for Labeling of Prepacked Foods implying that the Malawi standard is not protective enough. Moreover, Malawi’s allergen labeling regulation was found to be the least demanding. Although this study is based on data from Malawi, trends and implications for standards development may be applicable to other developing countries especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Declaring Allergens Has Become Mandatory

In cases of allergic or intolerance reactions after drinking wine, some thought should be given to possible associations with substances used during enological treatments. Some substances with a high allergenic potential, such as sulfites or sulfur dioxide, were actually mentioned in the article. These substances, if used in quantities in excess of 10 mg per kg or liter, have to be declared in foods as well as in wine. However, the use of other enological treatments, such as lysozyme or ovalbumin or casein from cow‘s milk, is less commonly known. The presence of such substances in wine can accordingly trigger undesirable reactions in patients with existing allergies to cow‘s milk or egg protein. According to Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 579/2012 of the European Commission of 29 June 2012, these substances will now have to be declared in wine, in the same way as in other foods, if they are present in the final product. This is helpful for affected patients, but it means that in future, the declaration of allergens on the wine label will have to be read even more carefully.

Occupational contact allergy caused by rubber gloves – nothing has changed

Allergic contact dermatitis caused by rubber gloves is not infrequent, and has almost exclusively been attributed to contact sensitization to accelerators. Thiurams have been the most frequent allergens, followed by dithiocarbamates. To describe the current allergen pattern in patients with occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by rubber gloves. This study was a retrospective analysis of data from the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK), 2002-2010. Of 93 615 patients patch tested in the IVDK, 3448 both suffered from occupational dermatitis and were tested because of suspected glove allergy. Among these, healthcare workers were the largest group (n = 1058). Of all occupational dermatitis patients, 13% were sensitized to thiurams, 3.5% to dithiocarbamates, 3% to mercaptobenzothiazole and/or its derivatives, and 0.4% to thioureas. Positive test reactions to 1,3-diphenylguanidine were seen in 3.0%. Reaction frequencies varied with the years, but showed no uniform time trend. As compared with a former IVDK data analysis (1995-2001), there was no change in sensitization pattern and no decline in sensitization frequencies. This is in line with data from the literature. Particularly in healthcare, there is a need for (i) allergen declaration on the glove package, and (ii) gloves with reduced accelerator content.

Draft statutory instrument on the Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009

Draft statutory instrument on the Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009

Declaration of allergens on the label of food products purchased on the European market

The recent introduction of legislation concerning the declaration of allergenic ingredients on the label of food products within the European Union is aimed at a better protection of allergic consumers. The food industry plays a pivotal role in this protection by informing the consumer and declaring allergenic ingredients on the label of food products. Furthermore, the industry needs to manage allergens in order to avoid their unintentional presence in products. The current situation regarding the declaration of allergenic ingredients as well as precautionary warnings on food labels is discussed, and assessed by analysing the labels of 550 food products.