Food Allergen Labeling

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Food Allergen Labeling
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Regulations

• Revised January 2006
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food
  manufacturers to
• List common allergens on labels in simple terms
  that adults and older children can understand
• Listed in
• Ingredients list
• After the list
• Right next to it

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Food Allergens

• List top eight, which account for 90 of all
  documented food allergies
• Milk
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts
• Fish (such as bass, cod, flounder)
• Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp)
• Soy
• Wheat
• Represent allergens most likely to cause a severe
  or life-threatening allergic reaction
  (anaphylaxis).

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Food Label Questions

• What foods are labeled?
• Any domestic or imported packaged food regulated
  by FDA.
• Whats included on label?
• Lists type of allergens as well as any ingredient
  that contains a protein from the eight major food
  allergens
• What foods arent labeled?
• Fresh produce, fresh meat, and certain highly
  refined oils.
• Foods that might inadvertently come into contact
  with a food allergen during growing, harvesting,
  or manufacturing.

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Allergen Label Information
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Non-Microbial Hazards

• Biological, Chemical, Physical Hazards and
  Allergens

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Biological Hazards

• Seafood Toxins
• Ciguatera toxin
• Scombroid toxin
• Shellfish toxins
• Systemic fish toxins
• Plant Toxins
• Poisonous plants
• Fungal Toxins
• Poisonous mushrooms

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Chemical Hazards

• Toxic Metals
• Lead, copper, brass, zinc, antimony, cadmium
• Cleaning Agents
• Detergents, sanitizers, polishers, abrasive
  cleaners, lubricants
• Pesticides and insecticides
• Food additives
• Preservatives (nitrite and sulfites), flavor
  enhancers (MSG), nutritional additives (niacin)

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Physical Hazards

• Band-aids
• Fingernails and nail polish
• Jewelry
• Broken light bulbs
• Hair
• Metal and wood
• Chipped glass
• Broken dinnerware

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Allergens

• 6 to 7 million Americans have food allergies.
• Most common food allergens
• Milk
• Eggs
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Wheat
• Soy
• Peanuts and tree nuts

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Government Regulations
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Who is responsible for our food?

• Primary responsibility for enforcing federal
  regulations is USDA and FDA.
• USDA is responsible for overseeing approximately
  20 of the food supply.
• FDA is responsible for 80.
• Other agencies also oversee various aspects of
  food safety.

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USDA

• Responsible for regulating
• Red meat, poultry, and certain egg products
• Key legislation that USDA enforces
• Federal Meat Inspection Act
• Poultry Products Inspection Act
• Egg Products Inspection Act
• Voluntary Inspection Program

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Food and Drug Administration

• Responsible for regulating
• All other foods not regulated by USDA.
• Food is food or drink for man or animal,
  chewing gum, and any food component.
• Key legislation
• Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act
• Food Code
• Low Acid Foods Registration and Process Filing

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Environmental Protection Agency

• Set pesticide residue tolerances or legal limits
  on how much residue that can be on particular
  foods.
• FDA and USDA enforce those tolerances on their
  portions of the food supply.
• Tolerance levels set for over 9,000 pesticides.

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Department of Commerce

• Oversee management of fisheries in the United
  States.
• Responsible for seafood quality and grading.
• Operate a voluntary inspection program for fish
  in conjunction with FDA.

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Department of Treasury

• Two divisions address food safety
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
• U.S. Customs

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Federal Trade Commission (FTC )

• Works with FDA and USA over claims made by food
  manufacturers.
• FTC oversees food advertising
• FDA oversees food labeling
• FTC requires that any objective claim made in
  advertising must be substantiated.

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HACCP

• Food Safety Plan

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What is HACCP?

• HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) is
  a systematic way to identify, evaluate, and
  control food safety hazards.
• Hazards are biological, chemical, or physical
  agents likely to cause illness or injury if they
  are not controlled.
• HACCP prevents food safety hazards rather than
  reacts to food safety hazards.
• To develop a HACCP plan, one follows the seven
  principles.

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Prerequisite Programs

• Focus on employees, facilities, and equipment.
  Examples of prerequisite programs include
• Illness policy
• Cleaning and sanitizing procedures
• Garbage removal
• Pest control
• Equipment selection
• Employee hygiene

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1 Conduct a hazard analysis

• Identify hazards associated with a specific menu
  item.
• Prepare flow diagram from receiving to service.
• List likely hazards associated with each step.
• Identify how to prevent the hazards at each step.
• Hazards can be biological, chemical, or physical.
• List hazards likely to occur and that will cause
  severe consequences if not controlled.
• Hazards that are low risk and that are not likely
  do not need to be considered.

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2 Determine CCPs

• A control point is any point, step, or procedure
  where biological, physical, or chemical factors
  can be controlled.
• A critical control point (CCP) is a point, step,
  or procedure where an identified hazard can be
  prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable
  levels.
• Critical control points are monitored much more
  frequently than are control points.

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3 Establish critical limits

• Establish criteria that must be met to prevent,
  eliminate, or the reduce the identified hazard at
  the CCP so that the food is safe to eat.
• Examples of critical limits are
• temperature, time, physical dimensions, water
  activity, pH, and available chlorine
• Critical limits can come from regulatory
  standards and guidelines, scientific literature,
  experimental studies, and consultation with
  experts.

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4 Establish monitoring procedures

• Monitoring is a planned observation or
  measurement
• to determine if a CCP is under control and
• Examples of monitoring include
• Visual observations
• Temperature measurements
• Time assessment
• pH measurements
• Water activity measurements

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5 Establish corrective actions

• Corrective actions focus on
• what do when a food does not meet the critical
  limit.
• Example of a corrective action
• A hamburger is 140oF (50oC)
• Critical limit -- Cook hamburger to 155oF (68oC)
  or hotter.
• Continue cooking until hamburger is 155oF (68oC)
  or hotter.
• Throwing out food might be a corrective action.
• Maintain records of all corrective actions taken.

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6 Verification procedures

• Four phases needed for a HACCP plan
• Determine that critical limits for all CCPS are
  sound.
• Make sure that the establishments HACCP plan is
  being properly implemented.
• Have regulatory personnel review the plan to make
  sure that it is being properly implemented.
• Check the accuracy of all monitoring equipment.

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7 Establish record keeping

• The following make up the records of a HACCP Plan
• List of HACCP team and their assigned
  responsibilities
• Description of each menu item
• Flow diagram for each menu item indicating CCPs
• Hazards associated with each CCP and preventive
  measures
• Critical limits
• Monitoring procedures
• Corrective actions plans
• Record keeping procedures
• Procedures for verification of the HACCP plan