Criteria for identifying allergenic foods of public health importance

Monday, 12 May 2008 18:21

Lists of allergens that require labelling were originally drawn up on the basis of a combination of prevalence and severity information. Since then the number of allergenic foods for which reactions have been well documented has grown considerably. The Food Allergy Task Force of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe has recently reviewed the criteria for identifying allergenic foods of public health importance.

As a result of the review, the group has proposed a revised set of criteria together with a framework which can be used to help decide which allergenic foods are of sufficient public health importance to be included in allergen lists. Criteria include clinical issues (diagnosis, potency of allergen, severity of reactions), population elements (prevalence, exposure) and modulating factors (food processing).

In the framework, data providing evidence for these criteria are weighted according to quality using a ranking derived from evidence-based medicine.      

Reference: Björkstén et al. 2008 Criteria for identifying allergenic foods of public health importance Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Vol 1.