5 replies to this topic

[Rudra]

Dear all,

My supplier provides me with an ingredient (powder form) which does not contain any added allergens but however, he has the following statement:

 

May contain traces of egg, sesame, celery, mustard, shellfish and fish and cow’s milk

 

While doing my risk assessment for allergens should I assume that the ingredient itself contains the above mentioned allergens even though its through cross contamination?

Thanks & Rgds,

Shakti 

[Evans X.]

Greetings Shakti,

 

Yes, you should take it into consideration but in the end it will be scored low in the risk assessment, because it is only a really small possibility for the ingredient to contain allergens ("May contain traces...") and also even if it has traces the end quantity will be negligible as the ingredient is incorporated in your final product.

 

You can however, if you wish, to back it up with a detection analysis for these traces once in a while or have your supplier provide you with one if he does it for his product. A step further would be to ask your supplier if he performs some fast allergen test after producing something with an allergen and before producing your allergen free product, so as to verify the thorough cleaning of the production line in between (if he does it in separate lines even better) and you can include that info in your R.A..

 

Regards!

[Charles.C]

Dear all,

My supplier provides me with an ingredient (powder form) which does not contain any added allergens but however, he has the following statement:

 

May contain traces of egg, sesame, celery, mustard, shellfish and fish and cow’s milk

 

While doing my risk assessment for allergens should I assume that the ingredient itself contains the above mentioned allergens even though its through cross contamination?

Thanks & Rgds,

Shakti 

 

Worst Case Scenario = Believe yr Supplier.

They are all equally 0% tolerant.

[Scampi]

Agree with Charles

 

Yes, assume those allergens are ALL present, even if it's only at trace levels, for some folks, that is enough to cause a horrid result

 

Plan accordingly

[pHruit]

Agree with Charles

 

Yes, assume those allergens are ALL present, even if it's only at trace levels, for some folks, that is enough to cause a horrid result

 

Plan accordingly

 

Generally I'd agree with this, but I'd contact the supplier first, to get a better understanding of exactly what "may contain" means to them - I've seen plenty of reasonable uses of this, but also one or two where they'd validated their controls to achieve absence to <LOQ, but took the view that this wasn't the same as absolute absence (which I suppose is true in the strictest scientific sense) so went with something to the effect of "may contain" as a result of this.
 

[Hoosiersmoker]

Packaging is obviously different but we ask all suppliers to furnish us with an allergen statement that states what the potential allergens are but that they are not intentionally added nor reasonably expected to be present in their products.