Allergen Risk Assessment

HI all, 

I'm working in a company doing value-added seafood. 

BRC require our HACCP analysis to conduct allergen risk assessment 

Can anyone advise if allergen risk assessment performs on "the recipe" rather than on "the production process flow", which one is appropriate? 

"the recipe" contains ingredients and we assessed it only to determine if the content is of any severe to be declared on the packaging.

Rather than assessing on the process flow. 

Any idea?  :uhm:

both are appropriate

you need to know the allergen contained within each recipe - raw material specifications should detail allergens

you need to know if any equipment is shared on allergen containing recipe and recipes containing either different allergens or no allergens as obviously the equipment will need cleaning before use in the other recipe(s)

We use the M&S process because we supply them but in that you assess the allergens in each ingredient (including "may contain"), and assess the allergens in each recipe then consider the points in the process where cross contamination could happen.  One of the key ones there is mislabelling (THE most common reason for an allergen recall).  So in short the answer is "both" in my opinion.

Hi,

you need both to cover the risk in allergen management.

Keep in mind that allergens as ingredients are covered by food law, where the "may contain" claim isn't. Nevertheless the (residual) risk has to be managed.

IMO it is very depend on which market you are selling your products (US, EU 28 or...). Even within the EU-28 the interpretation by authorities and courts is dependent on the country (as long as you are not using "free-from"-claims.

Rgds

moskito