Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Excellence Platform (PARERA), Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, and Food Science Department, Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Université Laval , Quebec, Quebec, Canada.
Food Directorate, Health Canada , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2021 Jan;38(1):15-32. doi: 10.1080/19440049.2020.1834153. Epub 2020 Nov 17.
Food allergies are life-threatening conditions that allergic individuals can avoid by consulting the food labels before consuming. Precautionary allergen labelling (or PAL), to warn against possible allergen cross-contamination, is widely used by food industries, reducing the food choices for allergic individuals. In Canada, there is limited information on the actual occurrence of allergens in products with a PAL related to the given allergen. This study attempted to fill the data gap by evaluating the occurrence of milk and egg allergens in Canadian products with PAL. A total of 1125 samples were analysed for milk and 840 for eggs, with 23% and 7% of these samples showing positive detection of ≥2.5 mg kg for milk and ≥0.245 mg kg for eggs. Chocolate products gave the largest number of positive results. Although the proportion of positive results was low, the levels detected reached 6471 mg kg in a chocolate sample and were indicative of possible health consequences, if PAL was ignored by allergic consumers. The occurrence data generated is destinated to be used in exposure and risk assessments, to support allergen management linked to cross-contamination, with the possible development of allergen action levels that would be used by food industries, thus improving a risk-based approach for the application of PAL.
食物过敏是危及生命的病症，过敏患者在食用前可以通过查看食品标签来避免。预防性过敏原标签（PAL）用于警告可能的过敏原交叉污染，被食品行业广泛使用，减少了过敏患者的食物选择。在加拿大，关于 PAL 相关致敏原在产品中实际出现情况的信息有限。本研究试图通过评估加拿大 PAL 相关产品中牛奶和鸡蛋过敏原的出现情况来填补数据空白。共分析了 1125 个牛奶样本和 840 个鸡蛋样本，其中 23%和 7%的样本牛奶检测值≥2.5mg/kg，鸡蛋检测值≥0.245mg/kg。巧克力产品的阳性结果最多。尽管阳性结果的比例较低，但在一个巧克力样本中检测到的水平达到了 6471mg/kg，如果过敏消费者忽视 PAL，则可能会产生健康后果。生成的出现数据将用于暴露和风险评估，以支持与交叉污染相关的过敏原管理，可能会制定过敏原行动水平，供食品行业使用，从而改进基于风险的 PAL 应用方法。
