Transcript Document

Regulation of Food Allergens in
New Zealand and Internationally
Leigh Henderson
NZFSA Allergen Seminar
21 March 2007
Standard 1.2.3
•
•
•
Specifies when mandatory declaration of
allergenic substances is required
Sets out which allergens should be
labelled
Directs when the declaration should be
on the label and when it may be provided
on request
Australia &
New Zealand
Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code
(the Code), Standard 1.2.3. December 2002
EU
Directive 2003/89/EC – effective November 2004
USA
Food allergen labeling and Consumer protection
Act, effective on foods labelled after 1 January
2006
Canada
Will be part of Food and Drug Act. Proposed in
2004, to be effective soon. At present ‘voluntary’
but covered by prohibition on ‘erroneous
impression’ clause
Japan
Food Sanitation Law, effective April 2002
What foods are labelled for allergens?
The Codex list
• Cereals containing gluten and their products
• Crustacea and their products
• Egg and egg products
• Fish and fish products
• Milk and milk products
• Peanuts and soybeans, and their products
• Tree nuts and their products
• Added sulphites in concentrations of 10 mg/kg or more
• Any allergen present in a food or food ingredient obtained through
biotechnology transferred from any of these
Australia &
New Zealand
Codex, plus sesame
EU
Codex plus celery, mustard, sesame
(tree nuts specified; sulphur dioxide included)
USA
Codex
Canada
Codex, plus sesame
Japan
Eggs, milk, wheat, buckwheat and peanuts, plus
a longer list of ‘recommended’ substances
(24 in total)
What does and what doesn’t
require labelling?
Australia & New Zealand
“The presence in a food of any of the substances
listed….must be declared….when present as –
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
An ingredient; or
An ingredient of a compound ingredient; or
A food additive or component of a food additive; or
A processing aid or component of a processing aid.”
Includes: all derivatives, regardless of presence of protein
Exemption to declaration: beer and spirits derived from cereals
EU
Some derivatives provisionally exempted until Nov
2007
USA
Exemption for any highly refined oil (or ingredient
derived from)
Petitions for exemptions (soy lecithin processing aid;
soy derived growth media, hydrolyzed casein etc)
rejected
Canada
Exemption for fining agents derived from milk, egg or
fish (when used in alcoholic beverages)
Japan
Alcoholic beverages exempt; some exemptions
e.g. lactose from milk
EU temporary exemptions
Cereals
Wheat and barley-based syrups; cereals used in distilled
spirits
Eggs
Lyzoyme in wine; albumin a fining agent in wine and cider
Fish
Gelatin (carrier for vitamins and flavours, fining agent);
isinglass
Soy
Fully refined oil and fat, phytosterols and esters
Milk
Whey used in distilled spirits, lactitol, casein (fining agent)
Nuts
Spirit distillates and walnut flavour in spirits
Celery
Leaf and seed oil
Mustard
Oil, seed oil and oleoresin
How should they be declared?
Australia &
No conditions specified
New Zealand
EU
Requires clear reference to the name under which
the allergen is known
USA
Identification in ‘plain, common language’, must
state source and derivative; species of nut and
species of fish to be declared
Canada
Specified – in list of ingredients, by common name
stating source and derivative
Japan
Guidance relating to ease of identification. However
not necessary to state specific allergen
What about those
‘may contain’ statements?
Australia & New Zealand
• Not regulated by the Code
• Products found to contain one of the specified allergens
but only labelled with ‘may contain’ would be in breach of
the Code
USA
The FALCP Act directs FDA to report to Congress
by June 2007 on unintentional contamination to include:
– incidence
– wording variations used
– extent of use
– consumer usage of such statements
to assess effectiveness of current cross contact issues
Japan
• ‘May contain’ statement prohibited
• Can use statements relating to allergens handled on the
same line, etc.
Impact of Regulations
11/37 Australian
food recalls to
date in 2006 due
to allergens
Food Allergen labelling Recalls
8
7
Number of recalls
20/52 Australian
food recalls in
2005 were due to
allergens
6
Gluten
Egg
5
Milk
4
Peanut
Soy
3
Tree nuts
2
Sulphite
1
0
2006
Year
2005
And what about food sold in
restaurants etc?
Australia & New Zealand
Requirements relating to foods exempt from labelling
(includes unpackaged food; food made and packaged on the premises
from which it is sold, food packaged in presence of purchaser;
delivered packaged & ready for consumption):
– declared on or in connection with the food; OR
– on request
Under review (Proposal P272)
USA
• Labelling requirements apply to retail and food service
establishments that package and label products, but not
to foods prepared to a consumer’s order
• Preparing guidelines for food establishments, including
restaurants, delis, bakeries and school cafeterias
• Will address preparation of allergen-free foods
United Kingdom
Issued draft guidance on provision of allergen information
for foods that are not pre-packed
• Covers catering, retail, schools, hospitals, institutions, etc.
• Recognition of greater risk from non-prepacked foods (75% of
UK deaths from anaphylaxis due to non-prepacked foods)
• Voluntary - considered but rejected a regulatory option
• Awareness and education of food preparers
• Best practice for managing ingredient information
• Avoiding cross-contamination
• Still at draft
How are different jurisdictions
dealing with the threshold issue?
USA
• Threshold Working Group Report 2006
• Likely to consider it on a case-by-case basis, as a result
of a petition for exemption
Other Countries
• EU – EFSA has considered thresholds for individual
allergens but considered these can not be defined
• Australia & New Zealand – considering application for
exemption for isinglass
Copyright
© Australia New Zealand Food Authority 2006.
This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this
material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, noncommercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any other use as
permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests
for further authorisation should be directed to [email protected]