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The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has released a comprehensive set of guidelines designed to aid food manufacturers, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in preventing allergen-related incidents and recalls.

This initiative comes as a response to the growing need for robust allergen management practices within the industry, which is crucial given the health risks posed to over 2 million consumers with food hypersensitivities in the UK.

The guidance, titled 'Allergen Recall Prevention,' was developed in collaboration with industry experts and with input from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

It provides practical advice on the most common causes of allergen-related recalls, which include mislabelling of allergenic ingredients, mismatches between product afreend packaging, incorrect ‘free-from’ claims, and failure to declare unintentional allergen presence.

📝Key areas of focus within the guidance include:

Incorrect declaration of allergenic ingredients: Ensuring that all allergens are accurately declared on product labels to prevent consumer exposure.

Mismatch in product and packaging: Addressing issues where the packaging does not accurately reflect the product contained within, which can lead to significant safety concerns.

Misleading ‘free-from’ claims: Highlighting the importance of accurate labelling for products marketed as free from certain allergens, to prevent accidental consumption.

Failure to declare unintentional allergen presence: Emphasising the need for clear labelling practices, including ‘may contain’ statements, to inform consumers of potential risks.

The FDF's guidance aims to streamline allergen management processes, enabling manufacturers to integrate these practices into existing food safety management systems. By doing so, the FDF seeks to reduce the incidence of recalls, which can have devastating financial impacts, particularly for SMEs.

Olayemi Fashesin-Souza, regulatory manager at FDF, said: “The British food and drink industry has some of the highest safety standards in the world. With robust allergen management practices and comprehensive labelling, consumers with food allergies can choose from a wide variety of products that are safe for them to eat."

“Sometimes, however, food products need to be recalled to ensure consumer safety. Our latest guidance offers manufacturers a proactive approach to minimise allergen-related recalls. By implementing this guidance, companies, in particularly smaller businesses, can improve the strength of their food safety procedures, and stop any potential issues before they arise.”

🎙️ In our latest episode of Crunchtime podcast, Rafaela Sousa explores food allergies, with the spotlight on a key topic: 'Building consumer trust through food allergen labelling and information'. Listen here.

Susan Jebb OBE, chair of the FSA, echoed this sentiment, urging manufacturers to adopt comprehensive allergen risk management systems. She highlighted the need for a systematic approach to identify and mitigate potential allergen risks throughout the manufacturing process.

The FSA currently manages approximately 300 allergen-related incidents annually, underscoring the critical nature of effective allergen management.

Darren Whitby, head of Incidents and resilience at the FSA, reiterated the importance of thorough risk assessments to understand the root causes of incidents when they do occur.

"The FSA is typically notified of and manages around 300 allergen-related incidents each year," he commented. "If an incident does occur, we recommend food businesses carry out risk assessments to establish how and why the problem came about."

"This new guidance published by the FDF today helps companies to identify the underlying causes to help prevent future incidents and improve food allergen management systems.”

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