Food Allergen Testing

Food allergies affect around 1.5 million people in the UK and can be potentially life threatening. New rules on food labelling have been introduced by the EU, which gives consumers more information on the presence of allergens in foodstuffs. It is essential that suppliers of foodstuffs comply with this legislation.

Although not an allergen, gluten is one of the most common proteins to which people have an intolerance. Coeliac's (or celiac) disease is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people and an additional 10,000 people per year are being diagnosed. The market for gluten-free produce is growing so quickly that sales values have doubled over the last five years. With our UKAS accredited, highly sensitive, quantitative ELISA gluten test you can confidently label your produce, ensuring compliance with legislation and giving consumers a fully informed choice.

Service from Genon Laboratories Limited

Our qualitative ELISA gluten test on general foods is now UKAS accredited. UKAS accredited testing laboratory (No. 4149) - click here to view schedule.

Allergen analysis is carried out using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique which is based on antigen-antibody interactions to allergenic proteins. We use this method to determine both the presence and amount of the following allergens in foodstuffs:

Gluten (including for beers and syrups)   •   Peanut   •   Hazelnut   •   Almond   •   Sesame seeds   •   Soya   •   Milk (casein and beta-lactoglobulin testing)   •   Egg   •   Crustacean/Shellfish/Mollusc  •  Lupin 

Rapid allergen detection, ideal for due diligence monitoring, is available for casein, gluten, peanut, almond, hazelnut and crustacean.

Legislation

The rules are laid out in Commission Directive 2003/89/EC which came into force on 25 November 2004 and lists 12 ingredients that are known to cause allergies and intolerances.

These ingredients must be clearly labelled if they, or any products made from, are used at any level in foodstuffs including alcoholic drinks. The 12 ingredients are: cereals containing gluten; crustaceans; fish; eggs; peanuts; soybeans; milk; nuts (namely, almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan nut, brazil nut, pistachio nut, macademia nut and Queensland nut); celery; mustard; sesame seeds; sulphur dioxide and sulphites at levels above 10mg/kg or 10mg/litre expressed as SO2.

In December 2006 two new ingredients were added to the above list due to their allergenic properties - Lupin and Mollusc. From 28 December 2008 all products containing these must also be labelled as such (note tests for lupin are currently under development).

The new rules removed the ‘25% rule’ in previous legislation, which meant that individual ingredients making up a compound ingredient did not have to be listed if the compound ingredient made up less than 25% of the finished products. Apart from a few exemptions (final list to be published November 2007), all ingredients now have to be indicated on the label, even when they make up only a small proportion of the product.

At present there are no legally enforced maximum levels for allergen content in foodstuffs, including limits for those labelled as allergen-free. The only exception is gluten, which Codex Alimentarius standards stipulate must be below 200ppm to be able to define a product as gluten-free. Since the mid 1980's the standard has been under review and this lengthy process is now drawing to a conclusion which will see new definitions of gluten-free food coming into force. In the next few months it is expected that the following levels will be adopted as standard by Codex:
• Gluten-free foods (naturally or where gluten has been removed) - levels of gluten must not exceed 20ppm
• Reduced gluten - levels must be between 20 and 100ppm
This will mean anything containing gluten above 100ppm cannot be labelled as gluten-free, suitable for Coeliacs, etc. Although many producers do currently work to the 20ppm rule, these changes may have significant impact on some food manufacturers and efforts to reduce gluten levels, obtain clarification of levels by testing and make amendments to labelling are likely to be necessary. Similar standards for other allergens are anticipated in the future.

Further information can be found using the following links:
Allergy and intolerance
Food Labelling (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2005: Guidance Notes

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