Controlling allergens

Recently introduced amendments to the Food Labelling Directive (2000/13/EC) legislation have forced the food industry to take a more active role in protecting consumers from exposure to food allergens.

The industry now has a list of the most important ingredients liable to cause allergies or intolerances, which must be shown on the label if present in the food. These are:

• Cereals containing gluten and products thereof
• Crustaceans and products thereof
• Eggs and products thereof
• Fish and products thereof
• Peanuts and products thereof
• Soybeans and products thereof
• Milk & dairy products (including lactose)
• Nuts & nut products
• Sesame seeds and products thereof
• Celery and products thereof
• Mustard and products thereof
• Sulphite at concentrations of at least 10mg/Kg

There are several aspects to meeting the legislation, which begin with gaining a better understanding of the ingredients being used. These stages are outlined below.

Ingredient review

Clearly, manufacturers must identify all potential sources of allergens. Single ingredients known to be the sources of allergenic materials are readily identifiable. It is, however, more difficult for the manufacturer using a compound ingredient to be confident that the ingredient is free from allergenic materials.

Manufacturers should also ensure that suppliers inform them of any intended changes to the compound ingredient, which will allow the manufacturer to carry out a formal review and ensure that the details and decisions made in relation to the use of the material are recorded.

Cross-contamination

Within the manufacturing environment the key to managing allergens is to avoid cross-contamination, which means identifying the steps in the process flow where contamination of product with allergenic materials may occur. Clearly, if the same allergenic ingredient is used in all product formulations, then cross-contamination is not an issue. However, this is generally not the case.

Therefore, policies and procedures should be established to address the prevention and elimination of cross-contamination. These policies should include but are not limited to:

• allergen changeover inspections
• pre-operational inspections
• colour coding, or other designation, and segregation of containers
• coding of scoops and sampling devices; by dedication, segregation or other means
• providing plastic aprons, gloves or other clothing barriers to reduce the likelihood that allergens may be transferred by clinging to clothing

In essence the issue of allergens should be addressed within the scope of the formal HACCP plan. This should enable the manufacturer to consider allergens at every stage in the process regime, from receipt and storage of raw materials right through to delivery of the product to the end consumer. The observations of external consultants may be helpful in ensuring that nothing is over-looked.

In addition to addressing specific manufacturing issues, food producers should also have procedures in place for selecting and auditing suppliers, for dealing with re-work, and also for staff training.

Testing

Testing plays a role in understanding ingredients and verifying the effectiveness of manufacturing controls. It is essential because it is not always obvious what ingredients are being used in any given food product, or that have been exposed to the risk of cross-contamination. Manufacturers may choose to outsource testing or establish their own laboratories. Test kits are available for the most common allergens, but the advantage of working with a specialist laboratory like RSSL is the availability of test methods for less common allergens. For example, RSSL recently expanded its testing service to cover pistachio, pecan, celery, cashew and mustard to which some consumers are sensitive.

When designing an allergens testing laboratory it is important to consider and counteract the same risks of cross-contamination that exist on the factory floor. Issues such as segregated operations and the thorough cleaning of work tops and equipment are just as important to the laboratory environment as to the manufacturing environment.

Growing importance

The issue of allergenicity is likely to move further up the consumer agenda in future because more people appear to be developing allergic responses to different foods. This may be as a consequence of our more varied diets, but is also as a result of medical science being more able to identify the dietary factors that are causing illness in some consumers. For food processing and ingredients businesses, the challenge is to keep abreast of the science, to gain a better understanding of products and to identify, then label or remove the potential allergens.