Simon Brooke-Taylor gives an overview of FAO/WHO work on food allergens
After the latest ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens, we had a chance to have a quick chat with Simon Brooke-Taylor, who chaired the meeting. Brooke-Taylor, an expert in food allergens, provided some insights on this area of study and on what we can expect in the future when it comes to food allergies.
- How has the science of food allergens been evolving?
We know a lot more about allergens, what causes them, how to detect them, maybe also how to protect people from them.
- How did you become an expert in food allergens?
I'm a regulatory affairs consultant. I previously worked for the Food Authority in Australia. And just after we introduced mandatory labelling for food additives, I was approached by one of our major industry bodies to help them establish a risk-based system for precautionary allergen labelling – the sort of “may contain …” things you see on labels.
- This is the fourth meeting of the Expert committee. Why did it take four meetings?
We've done four different things at our meetings, so the first meeting reviewed the list of priority allergens that are in the Codex general standard for labelling. In the second meeting, we looked at the severity and potency of allergens and determined reference doses that tell you what dose allergic individuals will react to when exposed. At the third meeting, we applied the reference doses into a recommendation for a risk-based precautionary allergen labelling system. During the fourth meeting, we looked at where exemptions for labelling of certain ingredients may be appropriate.
- How would an exemption work?
Well, something like glucose syrup made from wheat contains so little wheat protein that we have concluded, that it doesn't actually present a risk to an allergic consumer. When the syrup is used in a food, it doesn't have to carry the label ‘wheat’.
- What's been the biggest challenge of this committee?
the biggest challenge in this meeting is looking at some very difficult issues and analysing the data - where the science lies - to make recommendations to Codex.
- Are food allergens an issue all over the world?
Food allergens are a problem all over the world and allergies exist in every country. But I guess the priority or the main allergens of concern are not always the same in every country… for instance, around Switzerland, Germany, celery is a specific problem. So, the European Union mandates celery to be a listed allergen, which in the rest of the world is not a problem or concern.
- And can you give some more examples?
Lupin tends to be a problem in countries that grow and eat lupin – Eastern Europe and Australia.
Prawn is a common allergy within Western countries. But if you go to Southeast Asia, they do have a prawn allergy, but it isn't as severe.
- What was the biggest achievement of the expert group working on food allergens?
Well, the Codex general standard on food labelling contains a list of allergens that must always be declared on food labels. And that list was drawn up in the 1990s. We were asked to review that list and recommend changes. So, we ended up taking some allergens off the list, such as soy. The list used to say tree nuts…we now say almonds and pecans, pistachios and cashews.
We've also looked at the emerging allergens. For example, kiwi fruit.
- What changes that a food then begins to become a problem regarding allergens?
It really relates to exposure… and it's the protein in the allergen that some people, for one reason or other, become sensitized to.
- What would be the process for including new allergens on the list?
For emerging allergens, we have to keep a watch on them. For example, insect protein but also plant proteins – We're now getting a lot of meat alternatives coming into the food supply that we haven't really eaten before or haven't eaten in the same form as they're now going to be given to us.
- What difference will your work in this committee make to Codex?
Well, the first one will be to update the list of priority allergens. The other thing we've recommended is that Codex look at introducing risk based precautionary allergen labelling. So, whether you put a label on of ‘not suitable for’.
- Allergens is a topic which is not going to go away.
No, we're not going to suddenly wave a magic wand and it'll disappear. I think it's a case of being ahead of the game and on top of it and managing it.
See a video clip from the interview with Simon Brooke-Taylor
Read more about FAO’s work on food allergens
Photo: © FAO/Mia Rowan