Allergen Guide VITAL | VITAL |
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The VITAL (Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling) system is an essential standardised allergen risk assessment tool for food producers. VITAL allows food producers to assess the impact of allergen cross contact and provide appropriate precautionary allergen labelling on their products. Download VITAL modules: VITAL Procedure PDF (file size 72 KB ) Please register now to receive more VITAL information and updates. Food allergens may be present in a food due to intentional inclusion as part of a recipe, allergens but may also be present due to unintentional cross-contact. This can occur at any point in the supply chain due to the type of ingredients used or through the use of shared equipment and processes during manufacture. Even under conditions of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) cross-contact may be difficult to eliminate entirely, leading manufacturers to use precautionary advisory statements to advise allergic consumers. VITAL was developed to make a single simple standardised precautionary statement available to assist food producers in presenting allergen advice consistently for allergic consumers. VITAL not only assists food producers in assessing the potential impact of allergen cross contact in each of their products but also specifies a particular precautionary allergen statement to be used according to the level of cross contact identified. VITAL allows the assessment of likely sources of allergen cross contact from raw materials and the processing environment, plus an evaluation of the amount present and a review of the ability to reduce the allergenic material from all contributing sources. VITAL ALSO provides for ongoing monitoring and verification of the risk assessment process to ensure any changes to the level of risk are acted upon without delay. Thank you for using the VITAL Procedure. We would really appreciate if you could please take a few minutes to provide feedback in order for us to improve the process. |
