Transcript Food allergy

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW FOOD
ALLERGEN RULES
Chun-Han Chan
Food Allergen Legislation & Risk Assessment
Food Allergy Branch
The Impact of Food Allergy
The symptoms can include:
• rashes (usually very itchy)
• tingling sensation in the
mouth
• swelling of the lips, tongue,
face and throat
• difficulty breathing
• diarrhoea
• vomiting
• abdominal cramps
• and on rare occasions
anaphylaxis
Food allergy figures
The true burden of food allergy is estimated to be
significantly higher than the hospitalisation figures
might otherwise suggest
Food allergy
~1.92m people have food allergy in the UK (based
on population of 63.1m). This figure excludes food
intolerance.
There is no cure, therefore need to observe avoidance
• Read ingredient labels
• Look out for hidden allergens
Food labelling is changing
• Moving from General Labelling Regulation
(2000/13/EC) to Food Information for Consumers
Regulation (1169/2011/EC)
• Three year transition period from the coming into force
date – from 13 December 2014 new rules on allergen
labelling shall apply
• Existing requirements for pre-packed foods are
retained – but new requirement to emphasize
allergenic foods in the ingredients list
• Introduction of new requirement to provide allergy
information for unpackaged foods
Scope of the Regulation
• Covers business operators at all stages of food chain
concerning provision of information to consumers:
 Food intended for the final consumer
 Foods delivered by mass caterers
 Foods intended for supply to mass caterers
• Also applies to catering services provided by
transport leaving from the EU Member States
 airline catering
 trains
 boats / ships
Annex II – The big 14
Peanuts
Nuts
Milk
Soya
Mustard
Lupin
Eggs
Fish
Molluscs
Cereals
containing
gluten
Sesame
Celery
Sulphur
dioxide
Crustaceans
Mandatory particulars
• Article 9(1)c - Any ingredient or processing aid listed in Annex II,
or derived from a substance or product listed in Annex II causing
allergies or intolerances, used in the manufacture or preparation
of a food and still present in the finished product, even if in an
altered form
• Article 9(2) - The specified allergenic foods to be indicated with
words and numbers - they may additionally be expressed by
means of pictograms or symbols
Article 12 & 13 Clarity and Legibility
• For prepacked foods, mandatory information to
appear directly on the package or on a label attached
to it
• Mandatory food information to be available and easily
accessible for all foods
• Mandatory information to be marked in a conspicuous
place, be easily visible, clearly legible and, where
appropriate, indelible. It should not be hidden,
obscured, detracted from or interrupted by other
written or pictorial matter
Article 14 Distance selling
• In the case of foods offered for sale by means of
distance communication, mandatory food information
to be available before purchase is concluded and
to appear on the material supporting the distance
selling or be provided through other appropriate
means clearly identified by the food business
operator
• All mandatory information to be available at the
moment of delivery
Article 21 Labelling of allergens
• Allergens to be indicated in list of ingredients with clear
reference to name of the substance or product as listed in Annex
II i.e. whey (milk)
• Allergenic ingredients to be emphasized through a typeset
that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the ingredients by
means of the font, style or background colour
• In the absence of a list of ingredients, the indication of the
allergenic ingredients to comprise the word ‘contains’ followed
by the name of the substance or product listed in Annex II
• Where several ingredients or processing aids in a food originate
from a single allergenic ingredient, the labelling shall make it
clear for each ingredient or processing aid concerned
EU FIC Labelling
Article 21 continued
• Where the name of the food (i.e. box of eggs, bag of
peanuts) clearly refers to the allergen concerned,
there is no need for a separate declaration of the
allergenic food
Use of Allergy Boxes
• The voluntary use allergen advisory boxes to declare
the presence of allergenic ingredients in prepacked
foods are not permitted under the EU FIC
• Allergen information found in a single and consistent
place
Article 36 Voluntary information
• The Commission has option to introduce new rules on the
following voluntary information:
 ‘information on the possible and unintentional presence
in food of substances or products causing allergies or
intolerances’
• Precautionary allergen warnings (“may contain”) can still be
used for prepacked food and non-prepacked – to be applied
after a thorough risk assessment and to communicate a real
risk to the consumer
• Permits the introduction of agreed phrases or allergen
reference doses for the unintentional presence of allergens in
prepacked foods
Article 44 non-prepacked food
• A new requirement for allergen ingredients
information to be provided for non-prepacked foods
and food provided prepacked for direct sale
• Foods are offered to sale to the final consumer or to
mass caterers without pre-packaging, or where foods
are packed on the sales premises at the consumer’s
request or prepacked for direct sale, the provision of
the information about allergenic ingredients is
mandatory
Article 44 –non-prepacked foods cont’
• Oral provision also permitted, provided the business
indicates clearly that such information can be
obtained upon request.
• Oral information must be accurate, consistent and
verifiable upon challenge
• What is consistent? Is there a process in place to
enable consistent information to be provided? For
example to refer queries to the nominated person(s)
• What is verifiable? Ingredients information on a chart,
recipe book, ingredients information sheets, scrap
books with labels etc
Article 44 –non-prepacked foods
• Could declare allergen ingredients information through a contains
statement, charts, tables etc.
– i.e. chicken tikka masala – Contains: milk, almonds (nuts)
• Consider Article 12 and 13 on accessibility of mandatory
information - Marked in a conspicuous place, easily visible,
clearly legible
• Signposting is required when information is not provided written
and upfront. It should be where consumer would expect to find
allergen information e.g in a folder, on menu board, at till or on the
menu card
Food Allergies & Intolerances
Before you order your food and drinks
please speak to our staff
if you have a food allergy or intolerance
Providing allergen information
Mollsucs
Lupin
Sulphites

Sesame

Mustard
Celery
Nuts
Milk
Soyabeans
Peanuts
Fish
Eggs
Crustaceans
Cereals containing
gluten
Dish

almonds



wheat

Mushroom
risotto
Lemon
cheesecake



wheat
Lasagne
Article 44 – non-prepacked food
• How are dietary requests communicated from front to
back of house? e.g. use of chef cards, order tickets,
receipts
• Preparing foods for allergic consumers- what process
is in place
• Is the business observing Safer Food, Better
business (SFBB) “Safe Method: Allergy”
• Are they making specific claims i.e. gluten free
– Consider how this claim is verified or validated
– Would no gluten containing ingredients (NGCI)
statement be better?
Regular reviews, keep it current
Food businesses need to have processes in place to
ensure the information they provide is accurate
• Regularly review the ingredients information
• Where ingredients change, review the accuracy of
the recipe
• Do garnishes or dressings change the allergenic
profile of the meal? Check!
• Accuracy is dependent on the information on
labelling, updating allergen information for dishes,
updating staff and consumers
Communication is key
• Think about the chain of communication
– The person buying the food
– The person handling the food
– The person taking the order
– The person ordering the food
Communication is key
• Engage with serving staff
• Recipes change
• Ingredients change
Cross contamination with allergens
• The unintentional presence of allergens is not covered under
the EU FIC. This is covered under the Food Safety Act and
General Food Law.
• Regulation No. 178/2002 General Food Law: Article 14, 2a.
Food shall be deemed to be unsafe if it is considered to be
injurious to health
• Article 14, 3b In determining whether any food is unsafe,
regard shall be had to the information provided to the
consumer, including information on the label, or other
information generally available to the consumer
concerning the avoidance of specific adverse health
effects from a particular food or category of foods
E- learning
Access free training on: http://allergytraining.food.gov.uk/
SFBB – allergy safe method
http://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/public
ation/foodallergies-sfbb-0513.pdf
Statutory Instrument
• Food Information Regulations 2014 – to be published
by July 2014
– An offence has been committed for failure to
comply with allergen provisions
– To outline functional working arrangements for
LAs
– Government Guidance to support Regulation to be
issued on GOV.UK ~ July 2014
• FSA allergen guidance to support SME’s to be issued
on www.food.gov.uk ~ July 2014
Changes to enforcement
• Broadening responsibility
• Unitary authorities and London boroughs, employ
both TSOs and EHOs - up to them whether they use
one or other or both to enforce the UK Food
Information Regulations (FIR). This will be in most
cases EHOs where there is involvement with nonprepacked food but in some cases it will be TSOs – it
depends on the arrangements locally
• Where responsibility is split into two tiers, to extend
the responsibility of second tier (district councils) to
include allergens checks under FIR in England
Changes to enforcement (2)
• FIR will introduce
 Improvement notices – outlines necessary
changes to reach compliance, timebound
 First tier tribunals – businesses to challenge /
appeal IN’s
• Criminal sanctions for breaches in food allergen
provisions – food safety
• EHOs / TSO’s to help educate the food businesses
and to maximise the opportunities of LAs to talk to
businesses
Further information
•
FSA allergy pages: http://food.gov.uk/policy-advice/allergyintol/
•
Revised advice and leaflets for SME’s to be issued by May 2014
•
Allergy E-learning http://allergytraining.food.gov.uk/ released December
2013 – suitable for businesses
•
Allergy chef card:
ttp://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/chefcard.pdf
•
Safer Food Better Business for Caterers – Food allergies
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/publication/foodallergies-sfbb0513.pdf
•
General FIR guidance to be found on GOV.uk ~ May 2014
•
Consumer advice http://food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/publication/allergyleaflet.pdf
•
BRC-FDF guidance for prepacked foods
http://www.brc.org.uk/downloads/Guidance%20on%20Allergen%20Labell
ing.pdf
Thank you for listening
Email: [email protected]