EFSA updates food allergen advice

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

- Last updated on GMT

Strawberries cause allergic reactions among many European adults
Strawberries cause allergic reactions among many European adults

Related tags Food allergy Efsa

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has updated its scientific advice on food allergens, taking into account latest published data on food allergy prevalence in Europe.

EFSA’s latest advice updates its 2003 opinion, and reviews all published data on the proteins that have been identified as food allergens, cross-reactivities, the effects of food processing on allergenicity, methods for allergen detection, and doses that trigger reactions.

The Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) estimates the prevalence of food allergy across Europe at around 1% of the population, for both adults and children, based on food challenges for diagnosis.

It adds that it is difficult to extrapolate a European-wide figure from any single country’s data because of differences in genetic sensitivity for different parts of the European population – and some areas of Europe have more food allergy data available than others.

However, EFSA estimates that about 75% of allergic reactions among children are caused by egg, peanut, cows’ milk, fish and nuts, while about half of allergic reactions among adults are to fruits of the latex group and of the Rosaceae​ family (which includes apples, pears cherries, raspberries, strawberries and almonds), vegetables of the Apiacea​e family (which includes celery, carrots and aromatic herbs) and various nuts and peanuts.

The NDA panel noted that there was pressure to establish thresholds for certain allergenic foods for labelling purposes, but said its job was risk assessment rather than risk management.

“The reliability of the risk estimates will depend on the type, quality and amount of data used, to estimate both population thresholds (or threshold distributions) and exposure to the allergenic food/ingredient,”​ it said.

“…The Panel emphasises that the purpose of the risk assessment – for example, exemption from labelling – and the level of risk which may be acceptable, are risk management decisions, and therefore are outside EFSA’s remit.”

Food manufacturers must label 14 allergens under EU law – peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, mustard, eggs, lupin, milk, fish, cereals containing gluten, sesame, celery, sulphur dioxide, molluscs and crustaceans. For products that do not intentionally contain these as ingredients, current industry best practice is simply to take all necessary precautions to avoid cross contamination and flag up the possibility of allergens' unintentional presence.

The updated scientific advice is available online here​.

Related news

Related products

show more

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Content provided by Lantmännen Biorefineries AB | 06-Dec-2023 | Product Brochure

Lantmännen offers now Oat Groats: Heat-treated oat kernels, also known as oat groats or kilned oats, undergo heat treatment to inhibit enzymes that could...

Related suppliers

1 comment

FOOD ALLERGENS?

Posted by HARRY,

FOOD ALLERGENS MOSTLY DEVELOP DEVELOP DUE TO ACCUMULATING LIFESTYLE ADDED CHEMICALS AND METABOLIC WASTE ACCUMULATION PRECIPITAING MITROCHONDRIAL AND STEM CELL DISFUNCTION. Best remove the causes.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars