Food Allergens: The Consumer Impact and Perspective

by Maria Said, Anaphylaxis Australia Inc

Maria provided background statistics about the increasing incidence of food allergy in Australia, and the impact of the allergen labelling requirements on consumers.

In a summary of information from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, delegates heard that between 1998 and 2003, 75% of children admitted to the emergency department with anaphylaxis were under 5 years old. Furthermore, 86% of the anaphylactic reactions attended to were due to food, and 47% occurred at home.

A very useful overview of allergen labelling recalls was included in this presentation, along with a description of issues food-allergic consumers have with current allergen labelling practices. The majority of these issues relate to either 'free from' or precautionary labelling practices. Maria went through several steps that Anaphylaxis Australia Inc was involved with in the development of the VITAL process, and gave a list of those food manufacturers known to be using VITAL in their allergen labelling practices.

Internationally, consumer groups such as the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Alliance (FAAA) would like to see manufacturers use simple, clear language terms to declare all major allergens, and use a consistent criteria for making precautionary statements. FAAA also strive to educate food allergic consumers to always read ingredient lists and always have their emergency kit with them.

This presentation can be downloaded here.