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Risk assessment for food allergy |
S. L. TAYLOR, Food Allergy Research & Resource Program, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, 143 Food Industry Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68583-0919 The inadvertent ingestion of allergenic foods is potentially hazardous for the 6-7 million Americans who are estimated to have food allergies. Eight foods or food groups (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustacean shellfish, soybeans, and wheat) are responsible for an estimated 90% of all food allergies on a worldwide basis. The allergens in these foods are naturally occurring proteins. The symptoms experienced by food-allergic individuals range from hives and mild gastrointestinal upsets to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. In IgE-mediated food allergies, symptoms can occur from exposure to very small amounts of an allergenic food, although severe symptoms most likely result from ingestion of larger amounts of the allergenic food. Small residual amounts of allergenic foods can occur in many food products as the result of common food industry practices. What is the threshold for allergenic food residues among sensitive individuals? The Food & Drug Administration has not established a definitive threshold level. The food industry should conduct risk analyses for their products. The major goal should be to identify and correct situations where appreciable undeclared residues of an allergenic food might result. The risk of allergic reactions and especially severe allergic reactions is going to be highest in situations where higher residue levels are found. The risk analysis will also identify situations where rather low, and sometimes insignificant, levels of undeclared allergens are present in a food product. The resolution of these situations will continue to be problematic until an accepted threshold level can be established by the FDA.
Session 10, Emerging issues in food allergy
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