Public consultation: the evaluation of allergenic foods and food ingredients for labelling purposes

EFSA is inviting comments on its draft scientific opinion on the evaluation of allergenic foods and food ingredients for labelling purposes. The document updates previous EFSA opinions on food ingredients or substances that are known to cause adverse reactions. These include: cereals containing gluten protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The symptoms of coeliac disease are triggered by the ingestion of gluten, milk and dairy products, eggs, nuts, peanuts, soy, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, celery, lupin, sesame, mustard, and sulphites.

The draft opinion includes sections on:

• the prevalence The proportion of a population found to have a condition of food allergies in unselected populations;
• proteins identified as food allergens;
• cross-reactivities;
• the effects of food processing on allergenicity The ability to trigger an abnormal immune response that leads to an allergic reaction in a person of foods and ingredients;
• methods for the detection of allergens and allergenic foods;
• doses observed to trigger adverse reactions in sensitive individuals;
• approaches used to derive individual and population Community of humans, animals or plants from the same species thresholds for selected allergenic foods.

Interested parties should submit written comments by 8 August 2014.

• Public consultation on a draft Scientific Opinion on the evaluation of allergenic foods and food ingredients for labelling purposes