Allergen Management

Do I need to test for allergen presence or absence

With the ever increasing awareness and importance of producing foods that clearly label if a product contains known allergens, either as a deliberate ingredient or as a possible contaminant, Allergen Risk Assessments and Management must be introduced to the food process.

Allergens should be managed to avoid their unintentional presence in products. This management involves evaluation of the likelihood of allergen cross-contamination associated with every step of the food production process, from sourcing raw materials through to marketing of a finished product. Existing Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) controls will assist with allergen management, for example avoiding cross-contamination by segregation, cleaning, using separate utensils etc. The introduction of allergen management into a food business can be seen as an extension of existing food safety management rather than a completely new system.

Cleaning for allergen control is only required where that allergen is not an intentional ingredient of the food being produced. Allergenic material is generally a protein. Very small amounts of some allergens, such as peanut, can cause adverse reactions; the severity will vary but for certain individuals this may be a fatal anaphylactic shock. Existing legislation relating to allergens exists, namely The Food Labelling (No 2) (Amendment) Regulations 2005; however this only covers the labelling aspects of the issue.

The Anaphylaxis Campaign Standard has set standards relating to the level of cleanliness required.
“All equipment, surfaces, utensils identified by risk assessment as subject to contamination by allergens shall be cleaned to a demonstrably visually and physically clean standard, or equivalent validated standard to remove any potential cross-contamination residues.”
“Where design of equipment prevents achievement of the above standard of cleanliness the use of “may contain” labelling shall be considered. The company must be able to demonstrate why cleaning to the above standard is not possible and this can only happen where the decision is the result of the allergen management review process”
(The Anaphylaxis Campaign Standard 2007)

Cleaning practices that are satisfactory for hygiene purposes may not be sufficient for the removal of allergens from surfaces and equipment. Any cleaning process developed for allergen removal must be validated to ensure allergens are removed from the target surface and that no risk of cross contamination to other food contact surfaces occurs. It must be remembered that, unlike microbial contamination, allergenic material is generally unaffected by heat (Taylor and Lehrer 1996) or chemicals.

Cleaning is used to remove contamination but can in itself be a source of contamination. Potential sources of cross contamination from cleaning include overspray from washdown guns, aerosols, cleaning tools, personnel, recovered cleaning solutions. The time of cleaning, methodology of clean and cross contamination controls must be carefully considered to avoid cleaning causing allergen cross contamination.

The cleaning regime can be tested and compared with other regimes by checking for levels of contamination after the clean. The assessment could look at residual soil level which can be tested by looking at ATP or protein; though specific allergen tests are more widely recognised as offering a better means for control after the cleaning and rinsing stages.