The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released new rules for food processors to control allergens.
The new guidelines by FSIS aim to help poultry, meat and processed egg product manufacturers maintain accuracy of their ingredients to avoid triggering unfavorable reactions among consumers with allergies and other sensitivities.
In the past few years, FSIS estimates that there has been a rise in food recall cases due to undeclared allergens. These issues are identified by the food inspectors during the routine labeling checks and are a result of changes in ingredients suppliers, wrongly packaged products, or due to changes in formulations of the products.
The FSIS hopes that with the new rules in place food companies will be more transparent in ensuring that they declare all the ingredients on their product labels as required by the law and that the products to not contain any undeclared ingredient or allergens. The guidelines entail measures relating to prevention and control of potentially allergic ingredients, labeling, packaging, checklists, storage, and allergic training, and more.
The latest guidelines are part of FSIS' continued efforts to minimize the number of recalls linked to allergens. In this regard, FSIS inspectors met with the management of every FSIS-regulated company in April 2015 to know whether the companies produce goods that contain allergens and if so, whether they have a process that ensures proper labeling is done.
Following the discussion, the agency increased the number of allergen-related checks to ensure that the products are labeled correctly. FSIS feels that with the inspections, companies have become more vigilant of proper labeling of products and ensured prevention of additional recalls.
USDA deputy under secretary for food safety Al Almanza said: "Our mission as a public health agency is to protect America's most vulnerable populations, including children, from harm, and these new guidelines do just that. Beyond keeping our families safe, these guidelines also provide a useful tool to help food companies avoid preventable, costly recalls."
The new FSIS guidelines, entitled, "FSIS Compliance Guidelines Allergens and Ingredients of Public Health Concern: Identification, Prevention and Control, and Declaration through Labeling," include a list of categories of food allergens and certain specified food items in each category which may cause serious problems to those who are allergic to them. Among the common allergens are wheat, crustacean shellfish, eggs, fish, peanuts, milk, tree nuts and soybeans, reports Food safety News.
Food allergens have become a health issue affecting millions across the country, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimating 2% of adults and 4%-8% of children, impacted by food allergies. These allergens may cause serious symptoms and can even result in anaphylaxis, a hazardous reaction where within minutes of exposure to the allergen causes respiratory distress, shock and death.
Image: FSIS intends to help meat processors with the new guidelines. Photo: Courtesy of amenic181/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
