Allergen issues with functional foods

Fonterra’s Wh2ole® water was the focus of a study by Associate Professor Rohan Ameratunga and Dr See-Tarn Woon of Auckland City Hospital into the allergenic properties of functional foods. The study was prompted after two cow's milk allergic children suffered anaphylactic reactions following consumption of the water, which contained the dairy-derived functional ingredient 'ClearProtein'.

While the milk component was clearly labelled on the fortified water, the study revealed the product contained at least three times the concentration of beta lactoglobulin as standard cow's milk. This lead the authors to brand Wh2ole® an example of a 'hyperallergenic' food created through the use of modern technology. They warn that new methods allowing the addition of food proteins to a broader range of consumer products brings a greater risk of inadvertent allergen exposure to allergic individuals, and urge all stakeholders to work together to manage these risks.

Fonterra has responded to the study by advising international customers of the potential need to identify the dairy content of foods containing specialised dairy proteins beyond the requirements of food labelling laws. With companies increasingly using dairy-based ingredients in products that do not necessarily appear to be dairy foods, there is a need to ensure consumers are adequately informed that these products contain dairy.

Wh2ole® was removed from the market in April 2010 because sales were not meeting expectations, and Fonterra is not currently producing any consumer products containing specialised dairy proteins.

Study Reference: Ameratunga & Woon. 2010. Allergy Asthma and Clinical Immunology. Vol 6(1) pp. 33. DOI:10.1186/1710-1492-6-33

Additional Source: www.fonterra.com