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Simon

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Posted 13 February 2007 - 10:26 PM

hi all,
This is my first time in this forum, very helpful indeed! thank you all.
Tomatoes, beans, peppers, melon and courgettes are our main products and i was wondering at what level the allergens can be an issue for us.

Many thanks

Amine

Hello Maataoui, welcome to the forums. In the European Union the following list of allergens should be considered:

Cereals containing gluten (i.e. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains).
Crustaceans (e.g. crab, lobster, crayfish, shrimp, prawn).
Eggs.
Milk (including lactose).
Fish.
Peanuts.
Soybeans.
Tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazils, pistachios, and macadamia/Queensland nuts).
Celery and celeriac.
Mustard.
Sesame seeds.
Sulphites at concentrations of over ten parts per million.

Are your products any of the above or do they contain any of the above?

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yorkshire

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Posted 14 February 2007 - 07:55 AM

Cereals containing gluten (i.e. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains).
Crustaceans (e.g. crab, lobster, crayfish, shrimp, prawn).
Eggs.
Milk (including lactose).
Fish.
Peanuts.
Soybeans.
Tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazils, pistachios, and macadamia/Queensland nuts).
Celery and celeriac.
Mustard.
Sesame seeds.
Sulphites at concentrations of over ten parts per million.


Please be aware that Lupins, and products thereof, and Molluscs, and products thereof, have been added to the EU list of allergens which need to be labelled. This comes into effect in December 2007. I have attached the new directive.

Attached Files


"Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything." Sydney Smith 1771 - 1845 www.newsinfoplus.co.uk

maataoui amine

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Posted 14 February 2007 - 09:26 AM

Hello Maataoui, welcome to the forums. In the European Union the following list of allergens should be considered:

Are your products any of the above or do they contain any of the above?



Simon,
no, what we actually do is washing, drying, grading and packing fresh tomatoes, peppers and other legumes. I think that in such a business, allergens are a "foreign body" matter!! do you agree?

Many thanks for the speedy answer!!


Simon

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Posted 15 February 2007 - 10:16 PM

Simon,
no, what we actually do is washing, drying, grading and packing fresh tomatoes, peppers and other legumes. I think that in such a business, allergens are a "foreign body" matter!! do you agree?

Many thanks for the speedy answer!!

I think so, do others agree?

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Posted 16 February 2007 - 10:25 PM

I think so, do others agree?



I'd agree

but i think you need to consider pesticides

C x

Edited by cazyncymru, 16 February 2007 - 10:26 PM.


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Posted 18 February 2007 - 08:48 AM

Dear All,

I hate to admit my ignorance again but I fail to see the connection between the terms “allergy” and “foreign bodies”.
Maybe this is area-oriented but in my experience foreign bodies usually refers to a “physical” something which would not be expected to be present in the item being consumed, it could be naturally sourced due to the environment and then not be removed by the designated process to remove it (eg a piece of wood or a bit of fishing net) or it could derive from an error in the manufacturing process (eg a paper clip). Something like pesticides would be a chemical contaminant in this classification.
Anyway I’m quite willing to be edified on this (no knowledge is more dangerous than some knowledge :smile: ?).

As to the vegetable query, I know there are already many brilliant refs on allergic reactions in this forum but since it’s not my direct area and I was too lazy to search, I “netted” -
I googled food allergy / vegetables and predictably got lots of everything .
A quick general overview list is here –

http://www.woodlandh...od_allergy.html

(the name looked a bit weird but the content seemed authentic)

The above gives –
“Fruit and vegetable allergy "
Allergic reactions to fruits and vegetables are usually mild and often they just affect the mouth, causing itching or a rash where the food touches the lips and mouth. This is called oral allergy syndrome. A number of people who react in this way to fruit or vegetables will also react to tree and weed pollens. So, for example, people who are allergic to birch pollen are also likely to be allergic to apples. Cooking can destroy a number of the allergens in fruits and vegetables, so cooked fruit often won’t cause a reaction in people with an allergy to fruit. Pasteurised fruit juice might not cause an allergic reaction either, for the same reason. However, the allergens in some vegetables, such as celery, aren’t affected by cooking. Some fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, are more likely to cause a reaction as they get riper.”

I suppose pollen could be called a foreign body ??

This additional site gives a detailed breakdown on many vegetable offenders –

http://www.labspec.co.za/l_veg2.htm

Extracting part of the tomato item -
“Clinical experience"
"Tomato is probably the vegetable which most often gives symptoms in the form of urticaria or rash and itching in eczematous patients. Adverse reactions following intake of fresh tomato are common. Hoffman et al. (15) found 14/25 eczema patients positive to tomato in ImmunoCAP® PAST. The incidence of allergy to tomato in different patient groups has been reported (19). In 102 grass-pollen allergic children, almost 40% were found to be allergic to tomato (22). Some investigators have suggested crossreactions between tomato, peanut (22), and grass pollen (26). Tyramine, serotonin and tryptamine in the tomato can give rise to symptoms similar to food allergy.”

So it does seem that the tomato is not so innocent in the allergy field (to my own surprise actually). The previous items in the thread covered regulatory aspects where it seems to have escaped so far. The reality seems to be that nearly everything is allergic to somebody although I presume some specific criteria are used for labelling such as nature of reaction / target consumers – do children love tomatoes ?? I guess not.
So as to the precise obligation to inform, I don’t know how you make that decision - maybe it’s spelled out in one of the other refs on this forum???

Rgds / Charles.C


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


Simon

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Posted 19 February 2007 - 09:08 PM

Dear All,

I hate to admit my ignorance again but I fail to see the connection between the terms “allergy” and “foreign bodies”.
Maybe this is area-oriented but in my experience foreign bodies usually refers to a “physical” something which would not be expected to be present in the item being consumed, it could be naturally sourced due to the environment and then not be removed by the designated process to remove it (eg a piece of wood or a bit of fishing net) or it could derive from an error in the manufacturing process (eg a paper clip). Something like pesticides would be a chemical contaminant in this classification.
Anyway I’m quite willing to be edified on this (no knowledge is more dangerous than some knowledge :smile: ?).

As to the vegetable query, I know there are already many brilliant refs on allergic reactions in this forum but since it’s not my direct area and I was too lazy to search, I “netted” -
I googled food allergy / vegetables and predictably got lots of everything .
A quick general overview list is here –

http://www.woodlandh...od_allergy.html

(the name looked a bit weird but the content seemed authentic)

The above gives –
“Fruit and vegetable allergy "
Allergic reactions to fruits and vegetables are usually mild and often they just affect the mouth, causing itching or a rash where the food touches the lips and mouth. This is called oral allergy syndrome. A number of people who react in this way to fruit or vegetables will also react to tree and weed pollens. So, for example, people who are allergic to birch pollen are also likely to be allergic to apples. Cooking can destroy a number of the allergens in fruits and vegetables, so cooked fruit often won’t cause a reaction in people with an allergy to fruit. Pasteurised fruit juice might not cause an allergic reaction either, for the same reason. However, the allergens in some vegetables, such as celery, aren’t affected by cooking. Some fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, are more likely to cause a reaction as they get riper.”

I suppose pollen could be called a foreign body ??

This additional site gives a detailed breakdown on many vegetable offenders –

http://www.labspec.co.za/l_veg2.htm

Extracting part of the tomato item -
“Clinical experience"
"Tomato is probably the vegetable which most often gives symptoms in the form of urticaria or rash and itching in eczematous patients. Adverse reactions following intake of fresh tomato are common. Hoffman et al. (15) found 14/25 eczema patients positive to tomato in ImmunoCAP® PAST. The incidence of allergy to tomato in different patient groups has been reported (19). In 102 grass-pollen allergic children, almost 40% were found to be allergic to tomato (22). Some investigators have suggested crossreactions between tomato, peanut (22), and grass pollen (26). Tyramine, serotonin and tryptamine in the tomato can give rise to symptoms similar to food allergy.”

So it does seem that the tomato is not so innocent in the allergy field (to my own surprise actually). The previous items in the thread covered regulatory aspects where it seems to have escaped so far. The reality seems to be that nearly everything is allergic to somebody although I presume some specific criteria are used for labelling such as nature of reaction / target consumers – do children love tomatoes ?? I guess not.
So as to the precise obligation to inform, I don’t know how you make that decision - maybe it’s spelled out in one of the other refs on this forum???

Rgds / Charles.C

Thank you Charles. I hope Maataoui finds the time to respond to your fabulous research Charles.

Regards,
Simon

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Check out IFSQN’s extensive library of FREE food safety videos
https://www.ifsqn.com/food_safety_videos.html


maataoui amine

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Posted 23 March 2007 - 09:47 AM

Hello everybody,
I'm really really sorry, I couldn't connect to internet during all this time!! :dunno: :dunno:
Thank you very much indeed, charles for your time!!
First of all, concerning the foreing body connection with allergy; i didn't give detailsbut the story is very simple : we sometimes find some evidence of peanut being eaten in the packhouse!! :whistle:
On the other hand, it looks like the tomatoe itself is allergenic; I need to look further in the links you gave to look for the elements responsible of this (within the tomatoe, like the LICOPENE for exemple :unsure: )
Many thanks again,
Amine



Simon

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Posted 28 March 2007 - 08:03 PM

Hello everybody,
I'm really really sorry, I couldn't connect to internet during all this time!! :dunno: :dunno:
Thank you very much indeed, charles for your time!!
First of all, concerning the foreing body connection with allergy; i didn't give detailsbut the story is very simple : we sometimes find some evidence of peanut being eaten in the packhouse!! :whistle:
On the other hand, it looks like the tomatoe itself is allergenic; I need to look further in the links you gave to look for the elements responsible of this (within the tomatoe, like the LICOPENE for exemple :unsure: )
Many thanks again,
Amine

Thanks for returning and giving us your feedback Maataoui.

Regards,
Simon

Get FREE bitesize education with IFSQN webinar recordings.
 
Download this handy excel for desktop access to over 180 Food Safety Friday's webinar recordings.
https://www.ifsqn.com/fsf/Free%20Food%20Safety%20Videos.xlsx

 
Check out IFSQN’s extensive library of FREE food safety videos
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