Food Allergens: A Review on Recent Initiatives for Allergen Risk Assessment
February 14, 2024

In a recent webinar, Dr. Joseph Baumert, Professor of Food Science and Technology and Director of the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln provided an overview of the 4-part series of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that address priority food allergens, allergen thresholds, precautionary labelling, and allergen exemption considerations. Also discussed — the main takeaways for food manufacturers reflected in these documents and emerging discussions for risk-based decisions on allergen management and labeling.
The webinar concluded with a live Q&A, allowing participants to engage with Dr. Baumert. Among the questions asked, one focused on the role of general protein screening and environmental monitoring in an allergen control program, and another question was about the key message for food processors.
Where does general protein screening and environmental monitoring fit into an allergen control program?
We see common use of general protein to help support on a routine basis. It is recommended to get allergen-specific information during the validation stage of your cleaning process — utilizing those lateral flows, those ELISA-based methodology to help support that cleaning validation. On a routine basis, general protein could be a good application for evaluation of effective cleaning and verification purposes. One thing I like to recommend, is that on the last stage of your cleaning validation you might do a side-by-side with allergen-specific lateral flow and a general protein swab. Again, the goal would be to get concurrent negatives by both methods. That provides you with some data and documentation to get those concurrent and move forward into the routine analysis verification standpoint. That's a nice approach and very effective in the portfolio of different analytical tools available.
What would be the take-home message from this discussion for all the food processors out there?
For many years since we started allergen control and management, we have really struggled because we have not had a benchmark to work towards. There has been a lot of uncertainty, certainly from an international perspective of questions like, “How clean is clean enough?” and “How much is too much?” The take-home here is we do have data today that can now integrate into risk assessment modeling, and we can think about how we would integrate that into allergen control using a more quantitative fashion. For a long time, there was discussion around the need for thresholds. This allows us to bring that element into a systematic risk assessment framework. There is data now and certainly international discussions on integrating that into risk assessment and risk management decision making that moves away from that zero risk zero threshold perception that we have worked within for many years.
For those unable to join the live session, we extend an invitation to view the on-demand version, providing an opportunity to catch up on the insightful discussion and valuable insights shared by Dr. Baumert.
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About the Speaker
Dr. Joseph Baumert – Professor – Department of Food Science and Technology, Director – Food Allergy Research and Resource Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Joe Baumert, Ph.D., currently serves as a Professor in the Department of Food Science & Technology and Director of the Food Allergy Research & Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska. Dr. Baumert has maintained active national and international research and extension/outreach programs during his 14+ years as a faculty member. His research has primarily focused on the development and improvement of analytical methods for detection of allergenic food proteins and the development of quantitative risk assessment models for food allergens. Dr. Baumert’s outreach activities include training for the food industry on allergen control solutions aimed to mitigate the risk of allergen cross-contact and quantitative risk assessment consultation.
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Category: Food Safety, Consumer Goods, Dietary Supplements, Food & Beverage, Pet Food, Allergens, Environmental Monitoring