FAO, WHO develop a new risk-based approach to allergen management

GLOBAL – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have conducted five joint expert consultations to develop a new, precise, risk-based approach to allergen management, moving away from the precautionary hazard-based approach.

For a long time now, since the 1980s when a voluntary warning first appeared, allergen labelling has been focused on a more precautionary hazard-based approach, where even the slightest possibility of contamination results in warnings such as “May contain nuts” or “Manufactured in a facility that also processes nuts.”

The food industry introduced the hazard-based approach at the time due to lack of data to characterise the risk to health posed by an unintended allergen presence (UAP) from allergens cross-contact.

With over 220 million consumers worldwide affected by food allergies, the approach, though designed with consumers’ best interests in mind, has limitations. It often creates unnecessary trade barriers and restricts consumer choice.

Therefore, the FAO and the WHO have conducted five joint expert consultations to address these challenges and develop a more precise, risk-based system for precautionary allergen labelling.

The new method will consider the likelihood and severity of an allergic reaction occurring, instead of labelling foods based on mere possibility, to provide clearer, science-backed information to regulators, food business operators and consumers while fostering fairer trade practices.

The five expert consultation report summaries from FAO

The five expert food allergen risk assessment consultation reports covering the new approach are summarised into four parts;

The first section, Review and Validation of the Codex Alimentarius Priority Allergen List Through Risk Assessment, focuses on updating the list of priority food allergens of concern, defining quantitative criteria for assessing the addition or exclusion of foods from the priority list.

It provides a generic approach to assess and prioritise food allergens of concern, ensuring transparency and repeatability.

The next report, Review and Establish Threshold Levels in Foods for the Priority Allergens, provides reference doses (RfDs) that are risk-based and derived from global data, meeting the criterion of “exposure without appreciable health risk”.

It details the scientific rationale for the recommended RfDs, the consequent analytical considerations and overarching considerations for risk managers.

The third part, Review and Establish Precautionary Labelling (PAL) in Foods of the Priority Allergens, identifies the RfDs for priority allergenic foods recommended in Part 2 as the consensus RfDs for use within a risk-based PAL system.

It also highlights the need for consistent, harmonised risk assessment and wording chosen to communicate PAL.

Finally, Establishing Exemptions from Mandatory Declaration for Priority Food Allergens, recommends a risk-based framework for assessing whether certain foods and ingredients derived from the list of priority food allergens can be exempted from mandatory food allergen labelling.

According to FAO, providing a risk-based system for PAL captures recent growth and experience in the field, reflecting industry evolution in line with science and risk management demands. 

Sign up HERE to receive our email newsletters with the latest news and insights from Africa and around the world, and follow us on our WhatsApp channel for updates.