Food allergens

The first meeting of the most recent series of consultations was held in December 2020. Based on the latest scientific evidence, the expert committee identified and used three criteria – prevalence, potency and severity – to assess proteins for their potential inclusion or exclusion on a priority food-allergen list.

In March 2021, the Expert Consultation convened for a second time to establish threshold levels for priority allergenic foods. Through risk assessment, reference doses were recommended based on health-based guidance values for each of the priority allergens.

In October 2021, FAO and WHO reconvened for a third meeting to review and evaluate the evidence in support of precautionary allergen labelling to address unintended allergen presence in foods.

In November 2022, the fourth meeting addressed whether it was scientifically justifiable that foods containing certain ingredients derived from priority allergenic foods (such as highly refined oils) could be exempted from mandatory declaration on packaged foods. 

Why is it important?

The deliberations and conclusions of the recent series of meetings of the ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens were shared with the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) and the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), to support the development of internationally agreed upon food safety standards and guidelines relevant to the management of food allergens. 

FAO continues to work with top experts to evaluate and document the latest science in this field. All conclusions and recommendations are publicly available for policy development, best practices and research.

Contact

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