The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking views on new advice for how and when to apply the “may contain” precautionary allergy warnings on food packaging.
The FSA is recommending that precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) is only applied following a risk assessment, to ensure both consumer safety and choice are not affected unnecessarily.
Under the new advice, and to comply with food law, food businesses should specify which of the 14 major allergens their labelling refers to. For example, they should use specific terms such as “may contain peanuts” or “may contain tree nuts” rather than the more generic “may contain nuts”.
Bosses of 11 of the UK’s leading food businesses recently wrote an open letter calling for clearer rules on food labelling after the deaths of two Pret a Manger customers who suffered allergic reactions.
The businesses, which include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, also want a mandatory system to ensure the swift reporting of food-related anaphylaxis cases.
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The FSA is also seeking views on new guidance that precautionary labelling should not be applied for the same allergen that products are also claiming to be “free-from”. This would mean that a product labelled “dairy free”, for instance, should not be labelled with a “may contain milk” statement.
The proposed changes were supported by over 90% of respondents to the consultation.
“While the use of PAL is voluntary, it is important that it should be as accurate and helpful to consumers as possible when it is applied,” said FSA food hypersensitivity team leader, Ben Rayner.
“This new guidance will help ensure businesses and those living with food allergies and intolerances get the greatest possible benefit from PAL. We are committed to improving the provision of allergy information to consumers, and this is our next step in that process.”
The updated guidance also advises businesses not to use No Gluten Containing Ingredients Statements (NGCIs), such as “this menu has been designed for a non-gluten diet”.
The FSA recommends that only the phrases “gluten free” or “low gluten” be used, because NGCIs have been found to mislead consumers.
The current stage of the consultation closes on 22 May.
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they also need to have dextrose (may contain wheat) or (derived from wheat) on the packets. it helps.