other industry stakeholders in the Southern Hemisphere â being proudly hosted by the ARC Training Centre for Advanced.
AOAC Food Allergen Community
NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorial Comment
Editorial Comment Spice up your summer... with caution 1
News 2 Allergens in spices: the story continues - with a twist 2 Updates in the Editorial Board of the Food Allergen Community Newsletter2 Food Allergy Consumer and Advocacy Groups: a Pillar in Shaping the Agenda of Food Allergen Management 3 Report: Food Allergen Management Symposium (FAMS) – Australia
4
Green light to the Use of “gluten-free oats” in Canada 4 Annual AOAC Food Allergen Community Meeting
2015
5
Quick News 5 FDA Publishes Final Guidance on Food Allergen Labeling Exemptions 5 FSA Publishes Annual Report of Incidents Occurred in 2014
5
Upcoming Events
6
Spice up your summer... with caution Many of us have started the summer season enjoying time outside in the garden or visiting local parks. This is time for holidays, traveling and meeting family and friends. Who does one of these activities without a barbecue, a picnic or eating outside? My favorite summer dishes are marinated meats for the barbecue and salads (and a beer, please!). All of them would taste too plain to me without the use of different spices. But... do my spices contain unlabeled food allergens? The presence of hidden allergens in spices has been known for long time. Just in the last few months, the inadvertent presence of peanut and suspected almond in spices have lead to major recalls in the USA, Canada and they have also produced alerts notices in Europe. Our feature article, authored by Bert Popping, addresses specifically the details of the analytical issues associated with almond detected in paprika. This issue also introduces our new member of the Editorial Board, Samuel Godefroy, who also writes an article highlighting the relevance of collaborating with consumer and advocate groups in driving the food allergen management forward. These groups were part of the Allergen Management Symposium that took place in Australia last May. James Roberts reports the highlights of this event. Last month Health Canada introduced the possibility and conditions for labeling gluten-free oats. Gluten remains being a main issue, as presented in the FSA 2014 Incident Report. Recently, FDA published the Guidance on Food Allergen Labeling Exemptions.
1 International Conference on Food Allergens (Argentina) 6
We hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter and wish you a relaxing and re-energizing summer. See you in September at our Annual Meeting!
5th MoniQA International Conference 6
Carmen Diaz-Amigo | Editor in Chief
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Alergias Alimentarias. Un Reto Actual En Seguridad Alimentaria 6
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Editorial Team
Editor in Chief: Carmen Diaz-Amigo
Editorial Members:
Graphic Design:
Terry Koerner
Carmen Diaz-Amigo
Jupiter Yeung Samuel Godefroy James Roberts Bert Popping
This newsletter is a public document and can be distributed. Partial reproduction is permitted with the proper indication of the author and its source. For questions contact us at
[email protected].
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NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
2015
News Allergens in Spices: The Story Continues - With a Twist In our last issue earlier this year, we reported abut the peanut in cumin crises which started end 2014 and made headlines until February 2015. One of the questions that needs to be asked is what makes spices so interesting for adulteration. On one hand, the volume of the spice production only increases moderately, but the value shows in several cases double-digit increase. And that by itself is already a good incentive for fraud. The other issue is that the spice production often happens in smaller cooperatives and villages, which makes it difficult to control quality. Spices have made undesirable headlines for different reasons recently: mycotoxins, illegal dyes and high pathogen loads were often the cause. So it is not surprising that the competent authorities put spices under close surveillance after the cumin crises. And they found almonds in several spice mixes, usually at low levels. And while it may make economic sense to mix ground peanut shells with ground cumin, the mixing of almonds or almond shells with spices seems to lack logic. Almonds attract higher prices and almond shells have a different consistency – not the kind of attributes making them
easily suitable for adulteration of spice mixes. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which found almond in a spice mix, it appears that a closely related species, which is not regulated under the allergen labelling regulation (neither in Europe nor US/Canada) to be the cause of the weak positive: mahlab. Like plum (Prunus domesticus), apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and almond (Prunus dulcis), mahlab belongs to the family of Prunus species. Samples sent to Dr. Koerner’s lab at Health Canada were analysed using LC-MS/MS. The results were consistent with mahlab cross contamination in the cumin samples and inconsistent with the presence of almond. Based on the mass spectrometry results it is considered highly likely that the positive ELISA results were due to mahlab cross contamination and not almond. Interestingly, the European rapid alert system RASFF reports six cases where almond was found in spice mixes since the beginning of this year. Is there a likelihood that those are also caused by the presence of Prunus mahlab? Bert Popping Mérieux NutriSciences
Updates in the Editorial Board of the Food Allergen Community Newsletter We are pleased to announce the new member of the Editorial Board, Samuel Godefroy. Samy is a Senior Executive Food Regulator seconded to the World Bank to lead the strategic development of the Global Food Safety Partnership. He is also adjunct Professor of Food Risk Analysis and Food Systems at the University Laval (Québec, Canada). Previously he was Director General at the Food Directorate of Health Canada. Samy has led a wide variety of food allergen activities, including analytical research, development of the Canadian food allergen regulation, management and dissemination of information through the publication of scientific information and organization of conferences.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter We are pleased to welcome you as a reader and contributor for future issues
We would also like to thank the out going member Michael Abbott (Senior Head of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Assessment Section, Health Canada) for his significant contribution to the AOAC Food Allergen Community and the Newsletter. We would like to highlight his leading role in the coalition that developed the Appendix M of the AOAC Official Methods of Analysis: Validation Procedures for Quantitative Food Allergen ELISA Methods: Community Guidance and Best Practices. Carmen Diaz-Amigo Editor in Chief
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NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
2015
Food Allergy Consumer and Advocacy Groups: a Pillar in Shaping the Agenda of Food Allergen Management As a former food regulator, I have had the immense privilege to work with a number of stakeholder groups including consumer organizations. Working with Canadian food allergy and celiac associations has been and continues to be one of the most rewarding experiences. Canada’s food allergy and celiac associations such as Anaphylaxis Canada and the Canadian Celiac Association, as well as other national or provincial representations of such advocacy groups have been a driving force in shaping Canada’s efforts to enhance the protection of food allergic consumers.
allergy and celiac groups, with the intent to develop common understanding and create synergies to protect consumers and prevent food allergy incidents. Joint education and risk communication efforts are some of the lasting outputs of such engagement.
These associations played a key role in identifying, analyzing and relaying consumers’ needs to support the development of risk management tools and regulatory advancement of food allergen control practices, including labelling requirements. They were instrumental in analyzing proposed regulatory decisions, to identify their impacts in practical terms on consumers, families and care takers of food allergic and celiac consumers in various settings, at home, at school, at the day care etc… and in explaining these measures to support constructive feed-back and input from their constituencies. These groups played a leading role by delving in most complex scientific issues, mobilizing resources where needed, to research positions and advance scientifically documented findings to support measures intended to help allergic and celiac individuals. The professional advisory board of the Canadian Celiac Association was the driving force behind the initial scientific position on pure and uncontaminated oats and the assessment of their suitability in a gluten-free diet. This position was the trigger to investigate and ultimately advocate for enabling the “gluten-free” claim for products derived from these ingredients, when produced under specific conditions meant to prevent cross-contamination with other gluten-containing cereals. Similarly, Anaphylaxis Canada has been instrumental in initiating a discussion, amongst its constituency, on the development of thresholds for allergens and on current efforts to translate some of the clinical findings into risk assessment and ultimately into allergen control measures by government and industry. Fostering multi-stakeholder discussions involving the food industry, academia and government is another feature that characterizes these groups. In my career of food scientist and food regulator, I have rarely witnessed advocacy groups as strongly engaged with the food industry as Canada’s food
Samuel Godefroy (third from left) with Anaphylaxis Canada leadership during the association’s annual meeting in May 2015 - Toronto Canada
As a former public servant, I have always been humbled and inspired by Canada’s food allergy and celiac advocacy groups. Their dedication to foster positive and practical change and their resilience to enable movement of regulatory measures enhancing the protection of their constituencies, have been second to none. I am confident that these groups will build on their current success in their on-going action domestically and internationally. In my current endeavours to support food safety capacity building globally, the management of food allergens (and gluten sources) is an emerging area. Capacity development should not stop at updating regulatory systems and developing competencies amongst the various players of the food supply chain, it would also encompass the development of robust dialogue amongst all stakeholders through the contribution of well-informed and constructive advocacy and consumer groups. I am anticipating that our Canadian food allergy and celiac consumer associations will serve as an excellent model for shaping the development of similar groups around the world and in particular in developing nations where the issue of food allergen management is becoming more and more the centre of interest. Samuel Godefroy | World Bank
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NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
2015
Report: Food Allergen Management Symposium (FAMS) – Australia The first Food Allergen Management Symposium took place in Australia on 11- 14th May, 2015. It recognized the urgent need for a holistic approach in addressing the global issue of rapidly increasing prevalence, with tragic fatalities in some cases. It was also the first open forum convened between a group of dedicated local and international scientists, professionals and other industry stakeholders in the Southern Hemisphere – being proudly hosted by the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Food Manufacture (under the auspice of University of New South Wales, Australia), the Allergen Bureau and the National Measurement Institute. The symposium brought together 130 delegates from 6 countries, extending a truly global reach from Australasia, Europe, and Northern America, to share their experiences, to learn from one another and to discuss strategies for more effective food allergen management. It featured a global regulatory framework, risk assessment and action levels, food allergen management, VITAL 2.0, analytics and food allergy and allergen research. It also provided a forum for patient groups, clinicians, dietitian, and food industry representatives to lead a thought provoking discussion on the current status of precautionary allergen labelling (PAL). The first day covered the following topics: Historical development of food allergy; Global regulatory environment; Updates on risk assessment, which allowed for action levels to be determined; Insights from the European Projects EuroPrevall and iFAAM and an overview on the effects of
processing on food and their allergenicity; The update on VITAL 2.0. Precautionary allergen labeling (PAL) from the physicians’, dieticians’, and patients’ perspective; Gluten and gluten-free labeling from the Australian perspective . On the second day, food allergen management covered diverse discussions addressing practical guidelines, industry experience of VITAL, and emphasis on good manufacturing practice including science-based management through reliable analytics. Delegates were also treated to researchled presentations on the importance of proper validation of immunochemical based methods and advancements in sophisticated area of mass spectrometry. Food allergy and allergen research was showcased on the third day which covered an update on immunotherapy, FODMAP diet, infant nutrition intervention, molecular engineering allergen-free eggs, non-thermal processing to reduce food allergenicity, membrane process engineering and an update on the allergen research at NMI. Events of this nature can only contribute positively to the field as we continue to march forward together to develop more effective global food allergen management strategies. All delegates, current and future, are cordially invited to attend the next FAMS meeting. See you in 2017! James Roberts Australian National Measurement Institute
Green light to the Use of “Gluten-Free oats” in Canada wheat, rye and barley, or their hybridized strains”. However, the latest report (2015) indicates that “limiting daily consumption of gluten-free oats is not required”.
1. The food contains no oats other than specially produced “gluten-free oats”; 2. The finished product does not contain greater than 20 ppm of gluten from wheat, rye, barley or their hybridized strains; 3. The food contains no intentionally added gluten from wheat, rye, barley, or their hybridized strains; and 4. The “gluten-free oats” are clearly identified as such in all cases where ‘oats’ are referenced, including in the list of ingredients.
This new labelling claim will allow consumers distinguish between “gluten-free oats” and “regular oats”. Unlike glutenfree oats, regular oats have not specially produced or processed to be gluten free and they often contain some wheat rye or barley.
Health Canada has based this new claim on the review of available scientific data. In 2007, the report concluded that most people with celiac disease could safely consume limited amounts of gluten-free oats that did not contain gluten from
More information » Carmen Diaz-Amigo
Image: freedigitalphotos.net - Mister GC
Since May 19, 2015, Health Canada permits the use of specially produced “gluten-free oats” claim under the following conditions:
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NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
2015
Annual AOAC Food Allergen Community Meeting The Co-Chairs of the AOAC Food Allergen Community, Jupiter Yeung and Carmen Diaz-Amigo, would like to invite the readers of the Newsletter to attend the food allergen Scientific Sessions and participate actively in the Community Meeting that will take place during the 129th AOAC Annual Meeting & Exposition in Los Angeles (USA) on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 4:45 pm. This year the AOAC Annual Meeting will dedicate two of the Scientific Sessions to Food Allergen and Gluten. The Session entitled “Quo Vadis” will provide an historical overview of how regulation has impacted the food industry. It will also address current challenges, including the availability of reference materials for food allergens and gluten as well as the quantification of food allergens by mass spectrometry. The second scientific session will be dedicated to sampling for gluten testing. The experts of the session will discuss the current work being carried out by the working group of the Food Allergen Community created last year to address sampling issues. The last of the activities in the agenda is the Food Allergen Community meeting. This is a very interactive forum giving the experts from governents, industry and organization the oportunity to openly discuss and provide updates on latests activities and initiatives. The meeting will also include a number of short presentations selected from the posters presented at the AOAC meeting. More Information » Carmen Diaz-Amigo
10:15 - 11:45 Scientific Session Food Allergens – Qua Vadis? Co-Chairs: Bert Popping & Carmen Diaz-Amigo
Food Allergens Quo Vadis - Setting the Scene
Bert Popping (Mérieux NutriSciences) Towards Reference Materials for Food Allergen and GlutenFree Analysis Roland Poms (Imprint Analytics) The Past, Present and Future: Food Industry Perceptions from 2000 and Onwards Jupiter Yeung (Nestlé Nutrition) Mind the Gap! Challenges in Deriving Allergen Content from Peptide Concentration Franz Ulberth (JRC-IRMM)
15:00 - 16:30 Scientific Session Gluten Measurement Variation: Sampling, Subsampling and Analysis Co-Chairs: Jupiter Yeung & Paul Wehling
Gluten Free Sample Collection and Handling – Best
Practices and Practical Practices Laura Allred (Gluten-Free Certification Organization) Estimating Sampling Variation – Experimental Data from Farm to Lab - Thomas Grace (Bia Diagnostics) Estimation of Gluten Analytical Variation on Real Food Ingredients and Finished Products Paul Wehling (General Mills) Regulatory Aspects of Gluten Measurement Variation Karl Kurz (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) 16:45 - 18:45 Food Allergen Community Meeting
Quick News
129th AOAC Annual Meeting & Exposition September 27 - 30, 2015 Westin Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, California USA www.aoac.org
More Information »
FDA Publishes Final Guidance on Food Allergen Labeling Exemptions
FSA Publishes Annual Report of Incidents Occurred in 2014
In the last issue of 2014 we published an article authored by Steve Gendel on the draft Guidance highlighting the main points. On June 18, 2015, the US FDA published the final version of this document.
In June 4, 2015. During 2014, the FSA investigated and managed 1645 incidents related to food, feed and environment. Among those, the allergen category accounted for 129 incidents (8% of the total), which was slightly higher than those reported in the previous year (91). The most frequent allergen issues where sulphites (22), milk (22), gluten (19), peanuts (13), and soy (10).
The focus of the Guidance is to help the industry prepare the documentation and data they need to provide to apply for food allergen exemptions, in any of the two possible versions: petitions or notifications.
More information »
More information »
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NEWSLETTER Volume 6 | Issue 2
2015
Upcoming Events 1ST International Conference on Food Allergens (Argentina)
5th MoniQA International Conference
The Platform of Food Allergens of Argentina is organizing the “1st International Conference on Food Allergens”, that will take place in Buenos Aires from 25th to 26th of August, 2015.
MoniQA Workshop on Allergen Reference Materials September 16, 09:00 - 12:30
The Platform is a non-profit organization working for food allergic patients. It can be described as a multidisciplinary discussion forum formed by professionals from different governmental institutions, such as the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI), National Institute of Foods (INAL); School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (Buenos Aires University), School of Exact Sciences (La Plata University); members of the Argentine Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association and from the “Forum of parents of children who suffer of food allergy”, and an important number of national and international food industries.
Porto (Portugal), September 16-18, 2015
More Information »
Alergias Alimentarias. Un Reto Actual En Seguridad Alimentaria Zaragoza (Spain), June 2, 2015, 15:30 - 21:00
The conference topics cover different fields, including clinical aspects, food allergen regulations, update of methodologies for the detection of food allergens in foods, and allergen management in food industries. Conference Program »
The Spanish Association of Municipal Veterinarians is organizing a seminar (in Spanish) to inform management and staff of collective enterprises and social restoration, health inspectors, quality consultants and quality managers about the challenges that the food sector is facing after the enactment of the European Consumer Information Regulation has enter into force. The seminar will also address the importance of food production activities and controls in providing safe foods to individuals with food allergies and intolerances.
Contact information:
[email protected]
More Information »
María Cristina López National Institute of Industrial Technology
AOAC Food Allergen Community Newsletter Contribute with articles, news items or suggestions. Submission deadline for the 3rd Issue of 2015: Oct. 25, 2015 Send your articles to
[email protected] 99 Regulatory Updates
99 Upcoming events
99 Food Industry Initiatives
99 Questions for our Experts
99 Regional developments
99 Interested in a topic?
Best Practices for Food Allergen Validation & Verification
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99 Your research
The AOAC Food Allergen Community is a forum serving the scientific community working on Food Allergens: The community is aimed to help AOAC INTERNATIONAL in its consensus-based scientific and advisory capacity on methods of analysis for allergens in foods and other commodities. It is also meant to serve the broader Stakeholder Community whose objectives it is to enhance the protection of food allergic consumers worldwide. Contact us at
[email protected]
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