EFSA Releases Draft Opinion on Allergenic Food Ingredient Labeling

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a public consultation on a draft scientific opinion evaluating “allergenic foods and food ingredients for labeling purposes.” Prepared by EFSA’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA), the new draft updates previous scientific opinions “relative to food ingredients or substances with known allergenic potential listed in Annex IIIa of 2003/89/EC,” including cereals containing gluten, milk and dairy products, eggs, nuts, peanuts, soy, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, celery, lupin, sesame, mustard, and sulfites.

To this end, NDA addresses the following topics: (i) “the prevalence of food allergies in unselected populations”; (ii) “proteins identified as food allergens”; (iii) “cross-reactivities”; (iv) “the effects of food processing on allergenicity of foods and ingredients”; (v) “methods for the detection of allergens and allergenic foods”; (vi) “doses observed to trigger adverse reactions in sensitive individuals”; and (vii) “approaches used to derive individual and population thresholds for selected allergenic foods.” EFSA has requested written comments by August 8, 2014. See EFSA News Release, May 23, 2014.

Issue 525