Food allergen labeling: compliance with the mandatory legislation in Brazil

Abstract

Food allergies are reproducible adverse reactions mediated by specific immunological mechanisms that occur in sensitive individuals after consumption of a certain food. It is recommended that the allergic person excludes from the diet the food that triggers the allergic reactions. In Brazil, the Collegiate Board Resolution nº 26 of July 2, 2015, establishes the requirements for mandatory labeling of the main foods that cause food allergies, by implementing the use of alerts. The objective of this work was to verify if food labels in Brazil comply with this resolution. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out at the Ezequiel Dias Foundation from July/2018 to September/2018. The compliance of food labels was investigated according to the requirements for mandatory labeling of the main foods that cause allergies, regulated by CBR 26/2015. The results showed that 12.13% of the analyzed foods did not contain the allergy alert. In addition, 31% of the samples used precautionary allergen labeling, due to possible cross-contamination by an allergenic food. People who have food allergies benefit from advances in food labeling. However, much still needs to be done to ensure that legislation is duly complied, in order to improve the quality of life of allergic people.

Allergen's labeling of food products: regulatory practices in Morocco

“…Similar results are seen in studies from the UK and Malawi, reporting 66.1 and 76.2% non-compliance, respectively (Soon, 2018b;Mfueni et al, 2018). This contrasts with a Brazilian study which reports only 1.2% of non-conformity (Cunha et al, 2020). Although Moroccan regulations requires the use of "Contain allergens" statement, however, this was lacking in 86.5% of products, which gives evidence of a high prevalence of nonconformities, in comparison to the latter Brazilian study reporting only 15% (Cunha et al, 2020).…”

“…This contrasts with a Brazilian study which reports only 1.2% of non-conformity (Cunha et al, 2020). Although Moroccan regulations requires the use of "Contain allergens" statement, however, this was lacking in 86.5% of products, which gives evidence of a high prevalence of nonconformities, in comparison to the latter Brazilian study reporting only 15% (Cunha et al, 2020). Moroccan regulations also require using clear, readable and easy to find alert.…”

“…However, after more than five years, the application of the articles of this decree by manufacturers is generally not satisfactory. Among the foods included in this study, 4.5% of them did not mention the alert allergy while a Brazilian study reported the absence of this alert in 12.1% of cases (Cunha et al, 2020). In the same line of thoughts, a Malawian study highlighted the absence of allergen declaration in all locally manufactured products and in 27% of imported ones (Mfuneni et al, 2018).…”

Sustainability assessment of food industry with the approach of water, energy and food nexus

“…Food waste occurs in five main stages of the food system life cycle, including: a) production, b) processing, c) distribution, d) consumption, and e) after consumption, in which stages prevention should be sought and there were solutions (Ferrari et al, 2021). Considering these stages, and their relationships in the form of Nexus thinking and considering the complexities and entanglements and paying attention to the boundaries, the interaction between water, energy, soil and air factors in a dual and multiple way and being affected by issues of climate change, with a very wide range of views that is characteristic of Nexus thinking, the issue of reducing food waste can be studied and evaluated with a comprehensive and forward-looking approach (Cunha et al, 2020;Afshar et al, 2021).…”

On-the-Pack Voluntary Well-Being Messaging for Milks Targeting Chinese Older Adults: A Content Analysis

“…Whilst implementation of the Food Safety National Standards has led to enhanced use and standardisation of OTP WM for food products in China [ 35 , 36 ], the existence of national regulations, even in countries with a longer tradition of enforcing them, does not guarantee compliance. Prior research in Australian [ 37 ], Brazilian [ 38 ], and EU [ 39 ] markets has revealed various levels and types of OTP WM non-compliance. Whether milks targeting COA comply with current national regulations on VWM is currently unknown.…”