Undeclared allergens reported in Europe

The Rapid Alert System for Food (RASFF) was put in place 30 years ago to provide European food and feed control authorities throughout the region with a means to exchange information about serious risks detected in relation to food or feed. The RASFF 2009 Annual Report has recently been published showing there was a significant rise in notifications relating to undeclared allergens last year.

After the 2003 directive added a list of allergenic substances that must be mentioned on food labels if ingredients contain them, the number of RASFF notifications relating to undeclared allergens increased dramatically until reaching a plateau in 2007. Last year, the number of notifications on allergens jumped well above previous levels to a total of 127.

Sixty notifications made last year were in relation to milk, and over half of these were in the category of cocoa, tea and coffee products, while twelve of these were in cereals and bakery products, five in dietetic foods and food supplements and four in prepared dishes and snacks. Most of the notifications relating to milk were reported by Austria, where a structured sampling program detected many products contained undeclared milk.

The second most reported allergen, in 20 notified cases, were undeclared sulphites: nine notifications were recorded in crustaceans; five in fruit and vegetables; two in prepared dishes and snacks; and one in soups, broths and sauces.

The full report can be downloaded from the RASFF portal. Information on the 2009 allergen notifications, including useful table and graph representations, can be found on pages 17-19 of the report.