Allergen Management in the Food Industry by Luisa Magrin

Food safety is an important part of the system for the protection of human health. The main objectives of the food safety policy include pro-viding consumers with safe, high-quality food and with reliable, accurate and transparent information about food products. Every food company must ensure that food safety is not compromised, and has to provide accurate information on their offering so that the consumer can make a choice being well-informed. Substances and products causing food allergies or intolerances are common, and are safe for most people. Allergen management systems form part of a family of food safety management systems, which include general toxicological and microbiological food safety. The requirements of allergen management may sometimes be at variance with those of other food safety systems. Allergen management needs to be integrated into the overall food safety management system.

This book discusses measures that should be considered in allergen management. This book discusses the main issues associated with the principles underlying allergen management, its objectives, common issues, and the application of allergen management. Allergen management systems must meet both minimum statutory requirements and those that the company itself may have defined, after considering its objectives in this area of safety. Due to the lack of causative immunotherapies, individuals with food allergies have to rely on correct labelling for even minute amounts of allergenic constituents. It is not relevant to the allergic whether the source of the culprit food is an ingredient or an allergen that entered the food unintentionally, as is the case with so-called cross-contacts or hidden allergens. Efficient allergen management is the manufacturer’s prerequisite for coping with allergenic foods in the food production environment and handling them in a way that avoids cross-contact. The share of the population that has symptoms of intolerance or allergic reactions to food is increasing. Having in mind diversity of food ingredients, consumers are increasingly demanding avoidance or clear labelling of these substances, thus a challenge faced by the producers and distributors of food products is great. This book also presents a developed allergen management system in the production and packaging of powdered food products with different allergens contained. The key elements of established system are related to effective planning of production, cleaning of production lines, separation, and proper food product labelling. Over the last two decades, the significant increase in food allergy incidents, especially amongst children, has thrown spotlight on growing consumer concern about food allergens. Food allergies are now recognized as a food safety issue. The management of food allergens is a shared responsibility between consumers, government agencies and food manufacturers. Regarding this issue, many national and international regulations are addressing the importance of allergen management and set forth requirements to be met by food manufacturers.