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Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence news

Food allergen resources for Australia and New Zealand

In February 2004, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), the peak body representing food manufacturers in Australia, the Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence and the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology hosted a two-day seminar and workshop to facilitate industry discussion on allergen issues facing the food industry.

Participants represented a range of stakeholders from Australia and overseas including Sue Hefle and Steve Taylor from the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program in the USA.

In March 2004, the AFGC Allergen Forum was established by industry member companies. The creation of the Allergen Forum has enabled industry issues and concerns regarding allergen management to be given focus and priority. It will also facilitate a consistent approach to allergen management and regulation across all food categories and within the food supply chain.

Since the establishment of the Allergen Forum, members have been working to develop a number of projects:

• Food Allergen Resource Bureau
• Benchmarking
• Testing and Thresholds
• Risk Assessment
• Uniform Supplier Questionnaire
• Labelling
• AFGC Allergen Guide Update and Review.

Working briefs have been developed for each project and teams have been established to progress them. The projects span both Australia and New Zealand to ensure a consistent trans-Tasman approach to these and other allergen management initiatives. More information on each project and details of any workshops are available from the Food Allergen Resource Bureau website.

The Food Allergen Resource Bureau was officially launched by The Hon Christopher Pyne (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) in Sydney on 6 April. The Bureau provides a centralised collection of information about food allergens relevant to the Australian and New Zealand food industry.

The Food Safety Centre of Excellence oversees the Allergen Resource Bureau, which is operated on a membership basis. Foundation members include Kelloggs, George Weston Foods, Danisco, Masterfoods, National Foods, Parmalat, Heinz, Elisa Systems, AgriQuality, Cerebos, Goodman Fielder, Unilever, Arnotts, Golden Circle, Simplot, Kraft, Peanut Company of Australia, Nestle and Kerry Ingredients.

The first issue of Allergens Bureau e-News is available now:
www.allergenbureau.net/guestsOnly/whatsNew.htm
(guest login required).

Contact:
Dr Lyn Davies – Manager, Food Allergen Resource Bureau for further information.
Free call: 1800 263 829
info@allergenbureau.net or www.allergenbureau.net