Challenges to accurate food allergen labelling in food service outlets

• Published in: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 2018, Vol.77 (OCE3), Article E47
• Main Authors: Donovan, C.M., O'Donovan, C.B., Porter, M., Cooling, V., O'Mahony, S., Lyons, O.C., Geraghty, C.J., Taleghani, S., Flynn, M.A.T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcoholic beverages; Allergens; Allergies; Audits; Cereals; Consumers; Crustaceans; Descriptive labeling; Food; Food allergies; Food safety; Food service; Gluten; Ingredients; Labeling; Lactose; Legislation; Milk; Mollusks; Nuts; Outlets
• ISSN: 0029-6651; 1475-2719
• DOI: 10.1017/S0029665118000514

Providing accurate allergen information is particularly challenging for food service outlets (FSOs) for the following reasons - lack of knowledge due to no previous requirement to label food, continuous evolution of recipes and ingredients, and the presence of one or more of the 14 categories of allergens in most ingredients used. Allergen labelling in place Total FSOs Absent Present Allergen labelling accurate % (n) 100 (50) 32 (16) 68 (34) 16 (8) Incorrect allergen labelling – main inaccuracies % (n) Incorrect and/or incomplete allergen information 48 (24) Allergen information completely absent 32 (16) Allergen ‘sulphites’ missing 22 (11) Cereals containing gluten not specified 20 (10) Type of nut not specified 20 (10) Allergen information missing from alcoholic drinks 16 (8) Milk incorrectly specified as ‘lactose’ or ‘dairy’ 8 (4) Pine nuts listed as an allergen 6 (3) Allergen information missing on cereals containing gluten 6 (3) Crustaceans incorrectly specified as ‘fish’ 4 (2) Fish incorrectly specified as ‘molluscs’ or ‘crustacean’ 4 (2) Confusion over lupin 4 (2) FSOs, food service outlets Findings from the study showed that nearly a third of FSOs had no allergen labelling in place - reasons given included ‘lack of time’, ‘unaware of the legal requirements’, ‘unsure how to identify allergens’. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (2017) Targeted Audit of Allergen Information on Non-Prepacked Food. https://www.fsai.ie/enforcement_audit/audit/reports.html (Accessed March 2018).