Food allergen management

A growing number of people have life-threatening allergies to certain foods. The food industry needs to manage allergens to prevent cross-contamination of products that should not contain them.

This management involves evaluation of the potential for cross-contamination at every step of the food production process - from raw materials sourcing to delivery of final product to the consumer.

Amongst the controls that need to be in place are:

• supplier questionnaires to check the allergenic status of ingredients
• dedicated storage areas for allergenic ingredients
• physical segregation within the production area
• scheduling of production runs (including appropriate cleaning between runs)
• checks that products have the correct packaging and, therefore, also have allergen labelling.

For advice on food allergen management, risk assessment, HACCP, auditing, formulation of allergen policy, and practical allergen control (e.g. segregation, scheduling) contact info@campden.co.uk