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Food allergen management

Allergen management has become a major focus for the food industry since the introduction in December 2002 of the mandatory declaration of certain substances in food under standard 1.2.3 Mandatory Warning and Advisory Statements and Declarations in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Managing the risks associated with the presence of allergens in ingredients and products is one of the significant food safety challenges currently facing food manufacturers at all levels of the supply chain. We have factories producing an ever expanding range of products on shared equipment and the need to provide consistent and accurate information on these products to allergic consumers is now recognised.

Allergen related recalls of food products continue to be a problem - undeclared allergens has resulted in 24 recalls in the period May 2004 - June 2005 (www.foodstandards.gov.au). Food manufacturers must understand the management of substances in food that may lead to allergic or intolerance reactions in consumers.

Food allergies are abnormal responses of the immune system to foods which can, in some consumers, lead to potentially life threatening, consequences (Food Safety & Hygiene, November 2001). True food allergies are caused by a reaction to proteins in the food. Estimates of the prevalence of food allergies vary, but most researchers believe their incidence is increasing. The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) in their Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling (2002) quote an incidence in Australia of 1-2 percent of the general population with the rate rising to 5-8 percent in children, although most children will outgrow their reaction by the time they have reached 5-7 years of age. For more information see: www.allergenbureau.net/resources/Allergen_Management_and_Labelling.pdf.

Food intolerances are generally caused by certain genetic disorders and include, for example, coeliac disease, which is intolerance to gluten contained in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, barley, triticale and oats. In contrast, food intolerances are generally not life threatening but affect the quality of life for those who suffer from them.

The authors of the 2001 US Institute of Food Technologists Scientific Status Summary on food allergies have now fleshed out their recommendations for allergen management in Food Technology 59 2 (2005) 40. These recommendations are based on a series of their own previous publications (Food Allergy and Intolerance in 2000 and 2001).

Most of the issues raised are covered in the AFGC Guide to Allergen Management but the authors, both from the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska, give special emphasis to certain points. They note that while the minimum eliciting doses for allergens are not precisely known, evidence indicates that amounts as low as 1-3 mg of peanut, milk and egg can elicit mild allergic reactions in the most sensitive individuals. This highlights the challenge faced by manufacturers in developing effective allergen management programs.

The reviewers conclude their article by saying that the implementation of an effective allergen management program requires considerable effort and total company commitment. They believe the most important advice they can offer to manufacturers is to validate the effectiveness of allergen control programs using test kits. These are now available for the most common of the food allergies.

To emphasise how much care is necessary to avoid cross contamination, the reviewers cite two cases of peanut contamination investigated by their own laboratory - both related to previous contamination of shared transport mechanisms (railcars and jute bags). They also refer to an article (Yunginger et al., Journal of the American Medical Association 260 1988 1450-1452) on the re-use of frying oil for a number of different products with particular reference to practices in restaurants that have resulted in at least one fatal incident of food-induced anaphylaxis.

More on food-induced anaphylaxis.

Amongst several strong recommendations, these workers listed the need for restaurants to provide timely and accurate information concerning the ingredients in all menu items prepared in-house. This has been reinforced recently during Food Allergy Awareness Week coordinated by Anaphylaxis Australia Inc. The theme was Eating Out with Food Allergy – We can't cure food allergy; we need to learn to live with it (www.allergyfacts.org.au/2005/PDF/Media_Release_FAAW2005.doc). During this week food service staff and consumers were offered advice on managing food allergies.

Latest research is focusing on improving understanding of the problems in both lower threshold limits and methods of analysis.