New Membership Year!

The new Allergen Bureau membership year commenced on Tuesday 1 April 2008, so now is a great time to Join Us! Being a Member of the Allergen Bureau can save you time and money in addressing food allergen issues in a professional way. It can also help you demonstrate your commitment and proactive approach to your staff, suppliers, customers and regulatory authorities.

Review of The 2008 Allergen Bureau Conferences

The 2008 Allergen Bureau conferences were held in February 2008, in Brisbane and Sydney. With an outstanding turn-out at both events, delegates were treated to a program full of diverse and interesting discussions. The following is a review of just some of the highlights. Further highlights will feature in the next issue of the Allergen Bureau eNews.

PIFManager

Now familiar to most food manufacturers and suppliers across Australia and New Zealand, the Product Information Form (PIF) is an efficient, unique Australian/New Zealand initiative developed by the AFGC Allergen Forum. Hamilton Grant has just released their new 'PIFManager' product which is designed to support the success of PIF.

VITAL training

In partnership with the Allergen Bureau, Advancing Food Safety (AFS) has developed a frontline training program to help industry gain maximum benefit when using the AFGC Allergen Forum's VITAL Tool.

Recent Allergen Bureau submissions

As mentioned elsewhere in this issue of eNews, the Allergen Bureau is increasingly being called upon to provide input into state and national food policy. The following are brief excerpts from two of our recent submissions. The full submissions are available to Full Member Companies via the 'Members Only' section of the Allergen Bureau website.

New research in food allergies presented at annual AAAAI meeting

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia was held recently. Presentation of new research in food allergies formed the basis of the program, some of which is summarised here.

New test for shellfish in food

A Japanese company, Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. has developed a method for easily detecting the presence of crab and shrimp in foods.

Review of 2007 allergy research

A review just published by Sicherer and Leung highlights key advances in allergic skin disease, anaphylaxis, and hypersensitivity to foods, drugs, and insect venom, primarily from among more than 95 articles on these topics published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology throughout 2007.

April 2008

In this edition

Request for resources

The Allergen Bureau serves as a central receptacle for information about allergen management that is relevant to the Australian and New Zealand food industry. To ensure the Allergen Bureau remains a valuable asset to industry, we ask you to be our eyes and ears, to provide papers, events, reviews, website links and other useful information for us to post on the website. The website is updated regularly, and all contributions and feedback will be gratefully received.