Survey of allergen content and labelling of UK processed foods

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is calling for researchers who wish to carry out a survey of foods sampled from the UK market to provide a better understanding of whether allergen labelling relates to the actual level of allergen present in processed foods. The survey will also look at the ways in which different precautionary labels are being used by consumers to assess risk.

According to reports by industry news website Foodnavigator.com, the survey will focus on four key allergens, milk, cereals containing gluten, peanut and hazelnut, which have been chosen due to the large number of incidents the FSA has received over the past four years and because of their public health importance.

The results will also help the FSA gather information on the levels of allergens present as a result of cross-contamination and ultimately feed into a much larger area of work, including discussions on allergen management thresholds.

The call for applications is open until 17 October 2011. For more information about the survey and the tendering system, see the FSA website.