FOOD

ALLERGEN

LABELLING

“May Contain”

What Does This Really Mean ?

a food industry professional

and because

my son is allergic to peanuts

Allergens could be hidden in so called “compound ingredients

1991

Australian Food Standards Code was amended

“the presence of peanuts shall always be declared”.

“May contain” statements

When food manufacturers voluntarily introduced the statement “may contain nuts” on labels for products that were at risk of cross contamination during

production it appeared to be a good idea

However, unfortunately the injudicious use of this disclaimer and the proliferation of its usage has resulted in the creation of yet another hazard for the allergy sufferer

Rice Crackers

May contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, soy, crustacea, fish and egg  

Mustard

Manufactured on equipment that processes peanuts and sesame seeds 

Quick Oats

Made on a production line that also produces products containing wheat, barley, rye, milk, sesame seeds and tree nuts

2 MINUTE NOODLES

Made on equipment that also processes

products containing celery, crustacea,

fish, mustard, milk, soy and sesame 

Peanut Butter

ALLERGEN STATEMENT: CONTAINS PEANUTS 

Smith’s Biscuits may contain traces of nuts

Brown’s Biscuits

When one of the major allergens is an ingredient in a food product, it must be included as an ingredient on the label

 STANDARD 1.2.3

MANDATORY WARNING and ADVISORY STATEMENTS and DECLARATIONS

Cereals containing gluten namely, wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt

Crustacea and their products

Egg and egg products

Fish and fish products except for isinglass

Milk and milk products

Peanuts and peanut products

Tree nuts and tree nut products other than coconut

Sesame seeds & sesame seed products

Soybeans & soybean products

Added Sulphites in concentrations of 10 mg/kg or more

The Allergen Bureau

  VITAL

Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling

Scientific Expert Panel

reviews and monitors

food allergen thresholds

  

Wheat 20 ppm Fish 2.5 ppm

Rye 20 ppm Milk 2.5 ppm

Barley 20 ppm Peanuts 5 ppm

Eggs 0.75 ppm Sesame seeds 5 ppm

Crustacea 25 ppm Mustard 1.5 ppm

The precautionary labelling statement [‘May be present’] is used only when the cross contact allergen is at action level 2 on the VITAL action level grid

The precautionary statement is declared as ‘May be present: xxx’, where ‘xxx’ lists each of the cross contact allergens present at VITAL Action Level 2

The statement [‘May be present’] is placed below the summary statement on a separate line in bold print

The allergen cross contact statement text must be declared using the same font size as the ingredient list information or at the minimum print size of 1.5mm

core message

reduce cross contact allergens wherever possible

core focus

meaningful and consistent precautionary labelling

Why is food law silent on incidental presence of allergens?

Will we ever see consistency?

Will manufacturers continue to include confusing and meaningless “May contain” statements on labels?

The VITAL initiative is excellent. However "V" stands for Voluntary.

Will the allergy sufferer ever be able to have confidence in selecting food products?

Life-threatening food allergies

risking more children’s lives

Herald Sun Melbourne July 15, 2015

Severe allergic reaction2005 - 2015

• 1.5-fold increase in all hospital anaphylaxis admissions

• children aged 5-14 the rate of severe reactions has more than doubled

Ron Cossen

Suite 1, 28 Kent Grove

Caulfield North

VIC 3161

food.a@bigpond.net.au

03 9530 3271

0407 334 102