Allergen Management in the Food Processing / Manufacturing Sector.

Welcome to Holchem Laboratories micro-site on allergen management where you'll find up to date information regarding allergens, codes of practice and technical information freely available to assist with the control of this important, and topical, subject.

Holchem Supports the Samworth Brothers Technical Conference.

Holchem Laboratories, in the forms of Technical Services Managers Janice Boyd & Peter Littleton, attended the recent Samworth Brothers Technical Conference to present our view of the management and validation of hygiene with regard to allergens.  A copy of the presentation is available in PDF format by clicking on this link.

Holchem Supports the Anaphylaxis Campaign Standard on Allergen Management and Labelling.

Holchem Technical Services Manager, Peter Littleton, recently attended the seminar run by the Anaphylaxis Campaign to launch their standard to restore consumer confidence in the labelling and control of allergens in the food processing / manufacturing sector.  The standard will be available to purchase from November from www.highfield.co.uk at a cost of £65 per copy.  "After reviewing key areas of the standard I believe it to be one of the most practical and pragmatic approaches to the management of this crucial issue for the food industry which can only benefit both consumers and the producer" commented Peter Littleton following the meeting. 

Holchem will actively support this standard wherever possible - Anaphylaxis Campaign Web-site

Allergen Management Seminars.

Holchem has concluded two free seminars on the topical and important issue of allergen management and controls with over 60 delegates attending the sessions in Haydock and Ware. 

The speakers included Chris Hodge (an international allergen management specialist), Tepnel (a biosciences research and testing organisation) and Holchem themselves with topics ranging from management issues, through training to cleaning regimes and testing protocols - useful downloads or links connected with the seminars are listed below (most require Adobe Acrobat Reader): -

• A copy of the presentations

• Food Standards Agency Guidance to Allergen Management

• Food Standards Agency - Annual Review of Allergen Incidence

• Advanced Food Safety Limited - Allergen Management and Controls publication order form

Holchem is tracking the development of several industry codes of practice for the control of allergenic material which are scheduled to be released in the near future.  These codes of practice are understood to contain a requirement to validate the efficacy of both hygiene and inter-product cleaning regimes and to assist with this requirement Holchem is proud to offer the only range of hand-held, factory based allergen rapid test kits to enable the efficacy of a cleaning regime to be ascertained through a true control mechanism within a matter of minutes.  Once the codes of practice have been released Holchem will post a review of the logical steps that can be taken to control allergenic components of food.

For further details on this testing, and to download a copy of Holchem's Technical Guide to Allergen Management, please follow this link (requires acrobat reader).

Legislation introduced in November 2004 required food producers / manufacturers to actively manage the presence of allergenic ingredients in their products and provide clear labelling to ensure consumer protection - this legislation came into force on November 25^th 2005.  Thorough and effective hygiene operations combined with effective segregation are the main mechanisms to prevent cross-contamination during inter-product cleaning and to assist this Holchem is offering customers a specific allergen awareness course specifically tailored to the activities of a cleaning regime.

This free of charge course lasts approximately 30 minutes and covers: -

• The legislative requirements.

• The "Big Eight" allergenic ingredients.

• Mechanisms for controlling allergens.

• Methods of determining if an allergenic clean has been achieved.

For more details please contact your local Holchem Technical Sales Consultant, Technical Services Manager or Holchem head-office on 01706 - 222288 or info@holchem.co.uk