The 2009 food allergen labelling survey

In 2005, the AFGC Allergen Forum Food Labelling working group conducted a survey of allergen labelling on products sold in Australia. The results of that survey were intended to be used as a benchmark to determine the extent to which industry adopts the recommendations set out in the AFGC Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling (the Guide) over time. A follow-up survey was conducted in April 2009, and a report on the findings is now available to the Allergen Bureau website. A summary was provided by Fiona Fleming for delegates at the recent Allergen Bureau breakfast seminar.

Three hundred and forty products were purchased from Coles, Woolworths and ALDI Stores.

Efforts were made to ensure the sample was representative of products with major and minor shelf presence and private label brands, while also providing for consistency with the sample collected for the 2005 survey.

Results indicate that while several of the labelling recommendations have been more widely incorporated into food labels since the 2005 survey was conducted, there are still many recommendations within the Guide that have not been adopted by industry. For example, there has been an increase in the proportion of labels featuring the recommended grouping together of allergen information from 57% in 2005 to 78% in 2009, yet the proportion of labels featuring the recommended bolding of allergens in the ingredient list only went from 24% in 2005 to 26% in 2009. The use of a summary 'contains' statement has not been widely adopted, and there was only a 1% decrease in the use of precautionary statements, from 48% in 2005 to 47% in 2009.

In response to the survey findings, the Labelling Review Working Group made several recommendations:

• Investigate why The Guide is not more widely adopted
• Scoping exercise for developing Australian Standard for allergen labelling
• Provide increased guidance to address major issues (eg. Font size)
• Convene a working group to formally address issue of gluten free criteria
• Compile a list of “consumer-friendly” terms for allergen-derived ingredients.

Feedback from FSANZ with regard to the allergen labelling practices highlighted in this survey suggests they are happy with the proactive approach by industry such that no regulatory outcomes are required. They have agreed to a partnership approach to on-going label monitoring activities.

The labelling survey methods and a summary of the findings can be downloaded from the Allergen Bureau website.