Allergen rules go global

The deadline for submission of dossiers requesting exemption from allergen labelling in the European Union (EU) passed on August 25, and Europe is now gearing up for the legislation coming into force in November 2004. The US has just signed off its allergen labelling legislation, which comes into force on the January 1, 2006 and Australia already has provisions for allergen labelling in place. The allergen labelling legislative scene is now global, but it is important to be aware of subtle differences between markets, even those close to our EU home.

Under European legislation, the following ingredients and their derivatives are required to be clearly labelled: cereals containing gluten, fish, crustaceans, eggs, peanuts, soy, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seed and sulphites. But in Switzerland, pine nuts are included on the positive list, while in Australia, celery and mustard do not feature, but bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly do. In the US, the list is restricted to milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy.

Common to all key markets is the requirement to label allergen derivatives (including additives, flavours etc) from products that appear on that country's positive list. In Europe, all derivatives for exemption are subject to an individual dossier consideration by the European Food Safety Authority. In the US, the legislation is applied in a more industry-friendly way in that derivatives that can be shown to contain no allergenic protein and pose no allergic risk to humans may take advantage of the US's notification process. This is quicker than its petition process, which similar to the European submission process, in that it requires an examination by the relevant authority, the FDA.

One of the major criticisms of the EU directive has been that it does not make any provision to examine or resolve the increasing problem of 'may contain' statements. Within the new US legislation, there is a requirement for the authority to give advice on best practice to reduce and eliminate cross-contamination, and on advisory labelling with provisions for its use.

Make sure you keep up to date with different approached to this aspect of critical consumer protection legislation.

Jean Feord, business manager for legislation, Leatherhead Food International. http://www.leatherheadfood.com​​