Food Allergen Limits (How Much is Too Much?)
Precautionary labelling is a minefield for food businesses, but new work from the FAO will help
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Traces of allergens in foods; how much is too much? It’s a problem that is increasingly causing headaches for food manufacturers. The number of allergic consumers is rising, and awareness of allergens in food is also increasing. Undeclared allergens in foods are the most common type of food recall in many countries.
It is difficult to establish ‘safe’ levels of allergens in food, because of the differing levels of sensitivity among allergic people. But the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been working on this since 2020.
The FAO established an expert committee to do the following:
· Establish the threshold levels for ‘priority allergens’ below which the majority of allergic consumers would not suffer an adverse reaction;
