Allergen Bureau Conference in Auckland, NZ well received

Towards Consistent Food Labelling was the theme of the recent Allergen Bureau Conference, held in Auckland New Zealand on 15 April 2010.

The Allergen Bureau were fortunate to have Dr Vincent St Aubyn Crump as key note speaker. Dr Crump runs the Auckland Allergy Clinic and the audience enjoyed his informative presentation on fatal food reactions, food-related exercise induced anaphylaxis, novel food allergy and the future for food allergy. Dr Crump kindly donated the door prize of two copies of his book "Allergies: New Zealand's Growing Epidemic".

The insightful presentation from Allergy NZ, on allergies from a consumer's perspective, showed the difficulties faced by food allergic consumers and their families from diagnosis to choosing safe foods to eat.

The Allergen Bureau presented the results from their recent Allergen Labelling Review and an update on VITAL. There were updates from FSANZ and NZFSA on allergen food regulations, from the Australian Food and Grocery Council on the Product Information Form and from FACTa on allergen testing. Advancing Food Safety presented on how they had seen attitudes of trainees towards VITAL change over the past few years.

A particular highlight of the conference were the case study presentations from Hubbards Foods and Hansell's, which demonstrated VITAL in action in a manufacturing plant and the benefits that the companies had received from VITAL's implementation.

The Allergen Bureau is working towards making presentation from the conference available on Allergen Bureau website.