Allergen Testing

Allergen testing in food industry is utmost important part of food safety and quality assurance of a business. FSANZ revealed that most product recalls are due to undeclared allergens.

We have ELISA based allergen testing methodologies for detection of allergens at low levels. 

To meet the allergen labelling requirements of the code, you must be aware of the allergenic ingredients present in food product as well as the cross-contamination with allergens that may have occurred in food manufacturing environment. Prevention of cross contamination involves storage, cleaning equipment, scheduling production runs and staff awareness.

If a food is not in a package or sold from a takeaway shop etc. allergen information must either be displayed in connection with the food or provided to the purchaser on requested.

Some food labels use ‘may contain’ or ‘may be present’ statements about certain allergens, such as ‘may contain nuts’. These are voluntary statements made by food manufacturers and are not regulated by the Food Standards Code.

The EU allergen labelling legislation states that the most likely causes of an allergic reaction are:

Gluten in cereals (e.g. barley, oats, rye, wheat), Eggs, Fish, Milk and dairy products, Molluscs (e.g. clams, mussels, oysters, scallops), Celery, Mustard, Lupin, Nuts (e.g. almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts), Seafood crustaceans (e.g. crabs, lobsters, prawns), Sesame seeds, Soy, Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at levels above 10mg/kg  or 10mg/L)

Food allergies occur when a sensitive person eats, inhales, or comes into contact with even tiny amounts of certain foods. These reactions occur with exposure to proteins called allergens and can be very mild or may be life-threatening. Food allergies are becoming more and more common. There has been an increase in severe food allergy cases in the last few years.