Unintentional allergens testing protocol
Hi,
As a specific customer requirement, we are asked to test unintentional presence of allergen in raw materials.
Currently we are not using any allergenic raw materials.
Raw materials used are RBD soybean oil, RBD sunflower oil, Refined olive oil and Refined vacuum salt.
Soybean oil and sunflower oil are supplied by same manufacture, and others are supplied by individual manufacturers.
Can anyone help me to outline a testing protocol for unintentional presence of allergens, in which test method, testing frequency and specific laboratory must be identified?
thanx
Hi,
As a specific customer requirement, we are asked to test unintentional presence of allergen in raw materials.
Currently we are not using any allergenic raw materials.
Raw materials used are RBD soybean oil, RBD sunflower oil, Refined olive oil and Refined vacuum salt.
Soybean oil and sunflower oil are supplied by same manufacture, and others are supplied by individual manufacturers.
Can anyone help me to outline a testing protocol for unintentional presence of allergens, in which test method, testing frequency and specific laboratory must be identified?
thanx
Hi abiho,
Which allergens are regulatory (labelling) declarable at your or customer's location ?
Offhand the request sounds illogical. Or likely to be financially prohibitive.
I would have each vendor complete an allergen questionnaire to determine risk of allergen cross contact in their process and their vendor or upstream process.
With that information you can determine which allergens to test and the frequency by completing a risk assessment. Most facilities do this annually, but the frequency is predicated on the level of risk associated with the allergen cross contact.
I agree with the comment fro Charles - this request does not make sense for your ingredients. It sounds as if your customer is over-interpreting a requirement in the Preventive Controls rule or one of the audit schemes. Testing of this sort is used after you identify one of more allergens as known or reasonably likely hazards (or similar wording, depending on the scheme), not as something that needs testing in all cases.
In any case, allergen testing in oils is problematic and I would expect it to be a problem in sat.