Characteristics of Allergen Labelling and Precautionary Allergen Labelling in Packaged Food Products Available in Latin America

Abstract

The characteristics of food allergen labelling are relevant for avoiding accidental exposure to the allergens of interest but no Latin American country has evaluated these characteristics. Our aim was to evaluate the characteristics of food allergen labelling and precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) in six Latin American countries. All data were collected directly from the supermarkets surveyed. A total of 10,254 packaged food products were analyzed, of which 63.3% (n = 6494) and 33.2% (n = 3405) featured allergen labelling and/or PAL, respectively. Most products complied with local regulations (≥87.4% for both locally produced and imported). Thirty-three types of PAL statements were detected; the most frequent was “may contain traces of…” (35.1%). Countries without regulations on the characteristics of allergen labelling had two-fold more products that contained allergens in their ingredients lists but no food allergen labelling. The use of PAL in countries that regulate it (38.2%) was as high as that in countries without PAL regulations (19.2%–44.7%). The findings suggest that the lack of regulations for the characteristics of allergen labeling increases the risk of accidental exposure to allergens of interest. Our findings also suggest that beyond regulations, a scientific approach is required for minimizing and standardizing the use of PAL.

Perspectives in precautionary allergen labelling of prepackaged foods after the FAO/WHO consultation

“…Despite the original intentions, PAL operates within a legislative gray area in many countries, lacking standardized guidelines for its application or wording [7,8]. This absence of regulatory uniformity has led to varied practices globally, with some jurisdictions mandating PAL while others leave it as a voluntary measure [9,10]. In some countries, like Argentina, PAL is prohibited, while in others, steps have been taken to enforce labelling of UAP above a detectable level, typically set at 10 ppm, as seen in Japan [8,11].…”

The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products

“…Health concerns remain a trend in food product development [9]. This includes not only lifestyle-related diseases (e.g., diabetes, obesity, and hypertension) [10,11], but also allergies and intolerances [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In recent years, consumers are seeking out foods and beverages that protect them against real or perceived allergens; thus, they search the ingredient list and all relevant allergen information on the label to avoid unwanted Nutrients 2022, 14, 3421 2 of 14 ingredients [19,20].…”

“…It follows that, despite efforts, allergen declaration remains complicated [31,32] and the need to organise and document allergen information on the presence of allergens emerges. The BFCDs have been recognised as appropriate information tools to embed allergen data by various national organisations (e.g., OQALI, USDA) or international initiatives (e.g., Stance4Health-S4H) [12,15,33,34]. Thus, in the evolution strategy of BFCDs, the introduction of information on allergens is a reasonable and appropriate decision.…”

Selected Instrumental Techniques Applied in Food and Feed: Quality, Safety and Adulteration Analysis

“…While consumer trends nowadays gravitate toward healthier [ 5 ] and natural [ 6 ] food options, an increase in population and high food demand tend to increase the production of processed foods [ 7 , 8 ]. Government and official agencies, then, must concern themselves with enforcing guaranteed food labeling compliance, nutritional quality, and food origin (see, for example, [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]), as well as the public perception of health and dietary declarations (see, for instance, [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] to avoid unfair trade [ 17 ].…”