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Food Allergens

FHA 2014 International Conference

Singapore Expo

April 10 2014

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Allergen Management

Cleaning (one of the key control measures)

Food Allergens

Introduction to Food allergy

Communication – Regulatory Requirements & Labelling

Communication – New EU Requirements

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Various Types of Food Sensitivities

.

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Food Allergy vs Food Intolerance

Food Allergy is an immune response to a food protein (food allergens).

Food Intolerance is a physiological response to specific food

component(s) or toxin mediated response (as in the case of food

poisoning). E.g. lactose intolerance, alcohol intolerance.

Sulphur dioxide / Sulphides / Sulphites

Sulphur dioxide / sulphides / sulphites can irritate the lungs and can send

an asthmatic into severe bronchospasm, a constriction of the lungs.

Sulphur dioxide / sulphides / sulphites are not true allergens but some

people (but not many) have positive skin allergy tests to sulphites

indicating true (IgE-mediated) allergy.

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Food Allergy Response

Most food allergies are caused by hypersensitivities to particular proteins

in different foods.

Cross reactivity

• Some children who are allergic to cow's milk protein also show a cross

sensitivity to soy-based products;

• People with latex allergy often also develop allergies to bananas,

kiwifruit, avocados, and some other foods.

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Food Safety Management System

Risk Assessment

• Hazard identification & characterisation

• Likelihood of occurrence vs severity on

health

Risk Management

• Prevention or Control measures

Risk Communication

• Interactive exchange of scientific &

technical knowledge in risk analysis

• Validation, monitoring & verification

Management

Communication Assessment

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Food Allergens

Eggs Celery

Fish Lupin

Milk Crustaceans – prawns, crabs, lobster,

crayfish

Peanuts Mustard

Shellfish (Molluscs) – clams, oysters,

squids, mussels, snails, etc.

Sesame

Soy Sulphur dioxide*

Tree-nuts – almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts,

pecan nuts, cashew nuts, pistachio, etc.

Lactose, MSG, etc**

Wheat (cereal gluten)

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Presence of Food Allergens

• As an added ingredient.

• Cross-contact of an ingredient before or after it is received;

• Accidental ‘wrong’ formulation (from re-formulation; from batching

and/or tipping of wrong materials);

• Cross-contact by an allergen from a different product or due to sharing

of production line.

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Allergen Management

• Scope of today’s presentation

• The management involves:

• People

• Incoming raw materials

• Packaging materials (printing of label)

• Manufacturing processes

• Cleaning

• Product Innovation and Renovation

• Labelling & regulatory compliance

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People

People Management in the management of allergens

• Awareness, knowledge, competence

• Right behaviours

• Personal hygiene (work wear, hand washing);

• Consumption of food and beverages at designated areas;

• Adhere strictly to work procedures and instructions during production.

People

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Incoming Raw Materials

Raw materials

• Status (control measures at vendor production sites)

• Added allergen (especially in compound ingredients)

• Cross contamination during production; severity of the contamination

• Storage

• Clear labelling

• Storage of allergenic raw materials should be segregated from other

non-allergenic raw materials;

• Batching/tipping

• Dedicated tools

• Food dust during batching

• Rework

• Allergen matrix Raw materials

(Vendor

management)

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Packaging Materials

Packaging

• Reception procedure / Release for use

• Storage

• Segregation to reduce cross contamination

• Correct usage

• Right product in right packaging

Packaging

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Manufacturing Processes

Allergen Management in manufacturing processes

• Risk assessment / hazard analysis / control points

• Reception procedure

• Dedicated line (best practice)

• Shared line

• Control measures to eliminate and/or minimise cross contamination

must be in place (validate, monitor & verify)

• Control measures could involve production scheduling; cleaning

during product change over.

• Allergen matrix

Manufacturing

processes

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Cleaning

The most challenging aspect of allergen management in production is to

control cross contamination.

Cross contamination comes from:

• Sharing of production line for different products

• Sharing of utensils / tools / equipment

• Environment of production

• Environment of storage

• Use of compound materials

• Materials movements

Cleaning

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Cleaning

Cleaning is an important control measure in the battle against cross

contamination.

Types of cleaning

• Wet cleaning

• Controlled wet cleaning

• Dry cleaning

Cleaning

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Cleaning

All cleaning should be validated, monitored and verified.

1. The validation should include proper qualification of design, installation

and operation;

2. Monitoring should be done to ensure the cleaning achieves the

objective after each cleaning;

3. Verification on pre-determined frequency to ensure the cleaning

procedure remains effective over time.

4. Analysis methodology; Specification

Cleaning

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Product Innovation & Renovation

• New product developed and renovation of existing product should

include management of allergen(s) that affect the health of target

consumers.

• Value of the addition of an allergenic ingredient should be evaluated;

• Alternative non-allergenic ingredient should always be considered;

• Evaluate the impact on the production line (cross contamination) when

introducing an allergenic ingredient to the line;

• Availability of control measure to prevent/minimise cross contamination

of allergen;

• Impact on labelling (communication) and regulatory compliance in the

selling countries must be carefully evaluated.

Product

Innovation &

Renovation

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Regulatory Requirements - Labelling

Legal requirements have been put into place to ensure the correct

labelling of foods in many countries.

In most cases, food labelling should inform the consumer of the presence

of known food allergens as an added ingredient in the food.

The legislation listed below is the EU, US, and Australia/New Zealand’s

requirements for food allergens:

• EU – Directive 2003/89/EC as regards to indication of the ingredients

present in foodstuffs.

• US – Public Law Section 201-210

• Australia/New Zealand – Food Code Standard 1.2.3

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Local Regulatory Requirements

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Local Regulatory Requirements

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Communication - Labelling

• The process of approval of label must be carefully mapped.

• Process owner(s) must be clear.

• Those people who are tasked to approve label must have to

competence and knowledge to ensure there is no missing information

on the label.

• Declaration must be clear, accurate and complete.

• Declaration must be in compliance to the local regulatory requirement

where the products are being put on sale.

• When there is need to use multi-lingual labelling, translation must be

correct.

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Precautionary Labelling

• Regulations in most countries do not mandate the declaration of

allergens being present in the finished product due to cross

contamination

• Most major global food manufacturers proactively label allergens from

cross contamination with precautionary labelling.

• Precautionary labelling refers to statements such as “may contain …

…”

• Such statements should only be used as last resort after a series of

careful assessments.

• Such statements should not be used as an alternative to GMP and

relevant control measures or as a cover-up of sub-optimal allergen

control practices.

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Allergen Labelling in Food Services

Keeping customers’ informed has been challenging for food service

outlets such as cafes, restaurants as well as catering services. In most

situations, customers or consumers would usually inform the service

outlets or catering services of special dietary requirements before

making orders.

As in food production facilities, most of the allergen problems in food

service outlets arise from:

• Complex recipes.

• Cross contaminations such as shared cooking utensils and

inadequate knowledge*.

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Labelling – New EU Requirements

Labelling rules in European Directives 2003/89/EC and 2006/142/EC

ensure that all consumers are given comprehensive ingredient listing

information and make it easier for people with food allergies to identify

ingredients they need to avoid.

Following implementation of the Food Information for Consumers

Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011, allergen labelling rules will be changing

in December 2014.

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Labelling – New EU Requirements

The new regulation will introduce a new requirement for allergen

information to be provided for foods sold non-packed or pre-packed for

direct sale.

An example of

recommendation

made by Food

Standard Agency,

UK

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Reference and Acknowledgement

Some of the materials presented have been taken from publications

(journals &/or online) of the following references:

• Campden BRI, Guideline 71 (2013). Food Allergens.

• Institute of Food Science and Technology (2013) Food Allergy

• Taylor, Steve and Hefle, Susan. (2001). Food Allergies and Other Food

Sensitivity. Food Technology, 55 (9), Page 68 – 83, Institute of Food

Technology, USA.

• Food Standards Agency, UK (2013). Advice on Food Allergen

Labelling.

• Nestlé Guidance on Cleaning Management.

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