The New Food Allergen Labelling Regulation - How will it
affect you?
"Celery?" Surprise was expressed by a Member at
a recent F&HN meeting that celery is an ingredient that
must be labelled from 25 November
2004 under the new Food Labelling (Amendment) (No.2)
Regulations 2004.
The ingredients covered are:
- Cereals including gluten
- Crustaceans
- Fish
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Soybeans
- Milk
- Nuts (namely, almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan
nut, Brazil nut, pistachio nut, macadamia nut and Queensland
nut)
- Celery
- Mustard
- Sesame seeds
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at levels above 10mg/kg
or 10mg/litre expressed
as SO2
This has significant impact on most food businesses not only
for the breadth of ingredients covered but also for additional
powers such as removing the 25% compound ingredients exemption.
The enforcement date (8 weeks away) lends immediacy to you
joining the other food companies in the new
Allergy Cluster of the F&HN. We are holding
the first meeting of the Cluster on Thursday
14th October at IFR where the new Regulation is
one of the subjects being discussed, along with practical
advice and insight from IFR as the UK institute leading food
allergy research in Europe. The meeting is free to attend
for cluster members, or £150 for non-members who may
want to first "try" the Cluster. Call Lesley Swift
on 01603 255082 or email Lesley.Swift@bbsrc.ac.uk
to immediately reserve
your place.
So, why include celery? (Incidentally, this includes celeriac.)
Well, in the UK it may not be a common allergy but in Germany
it is more prevalent. This geographical aspect to food allergy
also demonstrates the need for knowledge by NPD professionals
and food import/exporters; a product developed for one country
may not be wholly appropriate for another. Examples include:
- peanut allergy - significant in the UK yet either very
rare or unheard of in Indonesia and parts of Africa, even
though peanuts are commonly eaten in these countries
- peach - a common food allergen in Spain
- allergy to birch pollen in parts of Northern Europe, which
leads to cross-reactivity in some people and an allergic
response to apple
Makes you think, doesn't it? Contact Lesley to reserve your
place.
Advance notice
The second meeting of the Allergy Cluster is planned for
7th December 2004, at IFR.
Food & Nutrition Cluster Meeting
- 27th October 2004 - Food Labelling, at IFR
With IFR speakers, and external contributions from Jean Feord
from Leatherhead RA and Michelle Smyth from the Consumers
Association.
Remember, you can attend even if you are not a Food &
Nutrition Cluster member, but there will be a fee. Contact
Lesley Swift on 01603 255082 or email Lesley.Swift@bbsrc.ac.uk
for more information, or to reserve your place.
Essential UK food safety workshop
If you're involved in improving the safety of food products
you need to know about ComBase http://www.combase.cc/.
Workshops on ComBase have been presented all over the world
including the FDA training centre in Washington, USA in August.
The next one is in London.
Venue details: 4th November, 2004
at the Food Standards Agency, registration deadline is 21st
October
Subject: ComBase, an international
database of bacterial responses to food, which can be used
to predict microbial responses to food environments and to
generate simulations of microbial growth/survival for risk
assessment
Cost: £100
Prerequisites: Basic PC skills,
use of Microsoft Excel. Participants must bring their own
Laptop with Windows 2000 or higher operating system &
Microsoft Excel installed
Presenters: IFR's Computational Microbiology
Team: Jòzsef Baranyi, Carmen Pin &
Yvan Le Marc
Call Lesley Swift on 01603 255082 or email Lesley.Swift@bbsrc.ac.uk
to immediately reserve your place.
New members of the Food & Health Network
Welcome to:
- Monsanto
- Bernard Matthews
- Charles Wells Brewery
Recent News
Report on recent 'Quality through Shelf-Life' Cluster
Meeting
Apart from talks, this meeting included a tour and demonstration
of the imaging techniques that had been discussed. We had
very positive feedback from attendees, so we plan to repeat
the talks+tours concept when the topic is suitable.
UK Industry publishes Manifesto for Food and Health
"FDF's Food and Health Manifesto sets out the UK food
and drink manufacturing industry's commitment to work constructively
with consumers, Government and others to help find solutions
to the issues surrounding obesity and the food and health
debate generally."
FDF link is at http://www.fdf.org.uk/manifesto_intro.aspx
Next 'Brief' will come out in November
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