Response of food-allergic consumers to new allergen-labelling legislation in Saudi Arabia

Objective: Preventing a food allergy reaction depends primarily on eliminating allergens from the diet. In October 2019, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) introduced new legislation requiring food establishments providing and selling non-prepacked foods to state the presence of the top 14 food allergens on their menus. This study aimed to assess the allergen-labelling knowledge, practices, preferences and perceptions towards the new SFDA allergen-labelling legislation among consumers with food allergy in Saudi Arabia. Design: Observational cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire. Setting: Saudi Arabia; February–March 2020. Participants: Residents of Saudi Arabia with food allergy (n=427), aged 18-70 years. Results: Among participants, only 28.1% knew that there were governmental regulations in Saudi Arabia regarding food-allergen labelling and approximately two-thirds (67%) check labels on prepacked food products for allergens. The majority of the participants preferred food products carrying safety statements (84.1%) and symbols (80.1%). A total of 47.1% were aware that regulations in Saudi Arabia require allergens to be declared in ingredient lists, while 48.7% were aware that advisory allergen labelling is mandatory. Only 26.2% were aware of the new SFDA legislation regarding provision of allergen information by food establishments. However, the majority (94.4%) were supportive of the new legislation, and most of them were more likely to eat at restaurants that reported allergen information for food items on the menu. Conclusions: The new SFDA food allergen-labelling legislation needs to be more widely and effectively disseminated to increase the level of awareness among adults with food allergy in Saudi Arabia.

Validation of a MS Based Proteomics Method for Milk and Egg Quantification in Cookies at the Lowest VITAL Levels: An Alternative to the Use of Precautionary Labeling

The prevalence of food allergy has increased over the last decades and consequently the food labeling policies have improved over the time in different countries to regulate allergen presence in foods. In particular, Reg 1169 in EU mandates the labelling of 14 allergens whenever intentionally added to foods, but the inadvertent contamination by allergens still remains an uncovered topic. In order to warn consumers on the risk of cross-contamination occurring in certain categories of foods, a precautionary allergen labelling system has been put in place by food industries on a voluntary basis. In order to reduce the overuse of precautionary allergen labelling (PAL), reference doses and action limits have been proposed by the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling VITAL project representing a guide in this jeopardizing scenario. Development of sensitive and reliable mass spectrometry methods are therefore of paramount importance in this regard to check the contamination levels in foods. In this paper we describe the development of a time-managed multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method based on a triple quadrupole platform for milk and egg quantification in processed food. The method was in house validated and allowed to achieve levels of proteins lower than 0.2 mg of total milk and egg proteins, respectively, in cookies, challenging the doses recommended by VITAL. The method was finally applied to cookies labeled as milk and egg-free. This method could represent, in perspective, a promising tool to be implemented along the food chain to detect even tiny amounts of allergens contaminating food commodities.

Characteristics of Allergen Labelling and Precautionary Allergen Labelling in Packaged Food Products Available in Latin America

The characteristics of food allergen labelling are relevant for avoiding accidental exposure to the allergens of interest but no Latin American country has evaluated these characteristics. Our aim was to evaluate the characteristics of food allergen labelling and precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) in six Latin American countries. All data were collected directly from the supermarkets surveyed. A total of 10,254 packaged food products were analyzed, of which 63.3% (n = 6494) and 33.2% (n = 3405) featured allergen labelling and/or PAL, respectively. Most products complied with local regulations (≥87.4% for both locally produced and imported). Thirty-three types of PAL statements were detected; the most frequent was “may contain traces of…” (35.1%). Countries without regulations on the characteristics of allergen labelling had two-fold more products that contained allergens in their ingredients lists but no food allergen labelling. The use of PAL in countries that regulate it (38.2%) was as high as that in countries without PAL regulations (19.2%–44.7%). The findings suggest that the lack of regulations for the characteristics of allergen labeling increases the risk of accidental exposure to allergens of interest. Our findings also suggest that beyond regulations, a scientific approach is required for minimizing and standardizing the use of PAL.

Alergeny – zamierzona i niezamierzona obecność w kontekście wymagań prawa i standardów GFSI

W pracy przedstawiono przegląd najważniejszych wymagań prawnych oraz wymagań uznanych standardów GFSI, tj. IFS, BRC i FSSC 22000 w zakresie zarządzania alergenami, w tym obowiązku związanego ze znakowaniem produktów. W przypadku wymagań prawnych uwagę skupiono w głównej mierze na Rozporządzeniu 1169/2011 i załączniku II do tego rozporządzenia, w którym przedstawionych zostało 14 produktów alergennych, jak również na przewodnikach wydanych do tego rozporządzenia. Omówiono również zagadnienie niezamierzonej obecności alergenów i związanych z tym obowiązków, jakie spoczywają na producentach. Znakowanie ostrzegawcze o obecności alergenów (PAL – Precautionary Allergen Labelling) nie jest uregulowane prawnie i producenci na podstawie analizy ryzyka i wykorzystania dostępnych na rynku wiadomości i programów (np. VITAL – Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling) sami podejmują decyzję o formie i treści informacji, które umieszczają na swoich produktach o zanieczyszczeniach krzyżowych. Przykładowo przedstawiono wymagania dotyczące oznaczenia alergenów oraz niezamierzonej obecności alergenów w wybranych 8 krajach. Następnie podano zakres wymagań związanych z alergenami w standardzie IFS, wersja 6.1, BRC, wersja 8, jak również FSSC 22000, wersja 4.1. W BRC szeroko opisane są wymagania związane z alergenami. Cały rozdział 5.3 poświęcony jest tym wymaganiom, które są kluczowe w ustanawianiu i realizacji działań zapewniających jakość i bezpieczeństwo żywności. IFS, jak i FSSC 22000 w znacznie mniejszym stopniu definiują zakres wymagań związanych z alergenami. Każdy producent jest zobowiązany do wdrożenia systemów związanych z zarządzaniem alergenami. W przypadku uregulowanych zagadnień prawnych związanych ze znakowaniem należy je stosować, natomiast w sytuacji braku uregulowań prawnych (jak w przypadku PAL) to na producencie spoczywa obowiązek wprowadzenia do obrotu produktów bezpiecznych, również w kontekście alergenów.