9 replies to this topic

[Andy_Yellows]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm re-writing our allergen policy and am wondering whether anyone can point me towards a set of statistics to help justify which allergens we do and don't allow on site for personal consumption? Preferably something pointing to cases of anaphylaxis/hospitalisation as a result of contact with/consumption of each allergen?

 

In the 10 years I've been here in various roles it has always been a rule that nuts, peanuts, sesame, crustaceans and molluscs are not to be brought on site by staff but I'd like to be able to point to something and say 'this is why you're allowed milk in your tea but not a sesame seed bap or a snickers bar.' Or even add to/subtract from the list should the data present a case for this.

 

Such stats may not even exist but I thought I'd see. After all, the 14 allergens for control must have been identified based on some kind of data......

 

Thanks in advance

[GMO]

This is an interesting one.  There has been a policy for many years on food sites in the UK not to bring in nuts and sometimes sesame seeds.

 

Even with a child with an allergy I cannot find any rationale for it that stands up to scrutiny.  Ultimately you would have policies in place not to bring in items of personal food into production areas and to wash hands before work.  

 

I certainly know of a site which doesn't process nuts in their production area and have Snickers for sale in their canteen with no issues.  Likewise though we had a policy on a sister site which I was managing at the time not to bring in nuts and as it was well embedded I decided not to change it.

 

The only rationale I suppose with nuts (perhaps) is they are small, portable and loose.  So a disgruntled employee could bring in a pack and deliberately contaminate your line.  But that would be against the rules anyway...

 

So personally I wouldn't be as draconian and I don't think there is hard evidence to prove it's a risk.  You could validate your hand washing process if liked to confirm?  You could decide that you want to keep the rules from a TACCP point of view or if a customer demands it but I think as your question alludes to, if it's not based on fact, why have the rule?  

In one site I worked at, we were launching gluten free products.  At no point did I think about banning wheat and other grains in the canteen.  Can you imagine the uproar and expense?  So if I'd not do that for a "free from" product, I don't see why I would for something else.

[kfromNE]

In the USA - https://www.foodallergy.org/

 

Does have statistics on which foods cause more severe issues, which are more common in kids than adults, etc. So data on 8 of them.

 

Andy Yellows- you are correct. Allergens are based upon severity of symptoms and percentage of people who react. Sesame was recently added as an allergen in the US because this was the next food item to cause reactions besides the other 8 already done.

[G M]

In the USA - https://www.foodallergy.org/

 

Does have statistics on which foods cause more severe issues, which are more common in kids than adults, etc. So data on 8 of them.

 

Andy Yellows- you are correct. Allergens are based upon severity of symptoms and percentage of people who react. Sesame was recently added as an allergen in the US because this was the next food item to cause reactions besides the other 8 already done.

 

The lists produced by the govt are generally based on prevalence in that cultures diet and the severity of the reactions.

 

As for why some businesses push for their facilities to be "nut free" etc. I can only shrug.  I visited a packaging manufacturing facility not long ago where they made a big deal about being a nut-free facility, and pointed out that they didn't get chips from the restaurant that delivered the lunch because of nut oil ... but bizzarely enough when I toured the facility no one was wearing gloves and washing hands wasn't required when entering the production area.   I just thought to myself "I would gladly let you serve all the nuts you want if you had decent GMP and handwashing policies" 

[SQFconsultant]

Curious... what is a BAP?

[Tony-C]

Curious... what is a BAP?

 

It is a small bun or a roll.

 

 Bacon Bap.png   977.24KB   0 downloads

 

Bacon bap, one of the best foods in the world.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[Tony-C]

Hi Andy,

 

Some info that may be useful.

 

For the US any food can cause an adverse reaction, eight types of food account for about 90 percent of all reactions:

Eggs

Milk and Dairy

Peanuts

Tree nuts

Fish

Shellfish

Wheat

Soy

 

Sesame is now also included as the 9^th major food allergen in the US

 

Studies published in 2018 and 2019 estimate the number of Americans of all ages who have convincing symptoms of allergy to specific foods:

Shellfish: 8.2 million

Milk: 6.1 million

Peanut: 6.1 million

Tree nuts: 3.9 million

Egg: 2.6 million

Fin fish: 2.6 million

Wheat: 2.4 million

Soy: 1.9 million

Sesame: 0.7 million

 

Source: FARE here

 

UK Food Standards Agency - Food Allergens:

 

The 14 allergens are: celery, cereals containing gluten (such as barley and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at a concentration of more than ten parts per million) and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).

 

Imperial College London UK 2021: Deaths from food allergy rare and decreasing in the UK, finds study

 

Deaths from food-induced anaphylaxis are rare. The study also assessed food-related anaphylaxis fatalities, recorded since 1992, when data first became available. There had been 187 fatalities since 1992 where the cause of death was likely to be food-induced anaphylaxis. At least 86 (46%) of these were due to peanuts or tree nuts such as almonds, cashews and walnuts.

 

Sixty-six deaths were reported in children, of which 14% were caused by peanuts, 9% by tree nuts and in 12% of cases, the nut could not be identified. However, the most common single cause of fatal anaphylaxis was cows’ milk, responsible for 26% of cases. Furthermore, there was a trend towards a greater proportion of reactions being caused by milk since 1992.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

 

[GMO]

Interesting.  My child has a food allergy but I think the noise about it is not always directed in the right way.

 

I had in my head there are about 10 deaths a year due to food allergies.  Looking that's a slight overestimate.  Now that's not to be sniffed at.  They are normally young people and it doesn't take into account the near misses and the stress of that.  But at c. 6 a year which the above figures suggest, it's not that different to the number of people killed by cows.

 

How Many People Are Killed by Cows Each Year- Deadly Truth (worldanimalfoundation.org)

 

Anyway I'm kind of joking...

 

But the reality of serious incidents with food or deaths with food allergy is most are caused by gross contamination.  Normally packing the item in the wrong packaging or using the wrong ingredient.  The trace cross contact issues rarely cause a problem.  I'm not saying we should ignore allergen cleaning and the detail that must go into that, what I'm saying is the smear on a surface caused by a dirty hand or lack of detail cleaning isn't likely to be the thing that causes one of those 6 deaths.

 

Also watch out for cows.  I don't trust them.  I don't like the way they mooooo-ve.

[Scampi]

Some good reading here:  https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC5589409/

Up to 5% of the US population has suffered anaphylaxis. Fatal outcome is rare, such that even for people with known venom or food allergy, fatal anaphylaxis constitutes less than 1% of total mortality risk. The incidence of fatal anaphylaxis has not increased in line with hospital admissions for anaphylaxis.

 

I agree with GMO and here's my personal example

 

At my child's school-not only are they peanut free (no biggie there -it's for the children's sake) but also fish free which is a massive inconvenience and here's where it gets absolutely wild to me

 

The person with the allergy is an educational assistant-an adult-who should be able to manage her own allergy

So instead of putting in limitations (like her wearing gloves-keep the classroom(s) she's in fish free, washing hands and touch points---they made a blanket statement that the entire school had to be fish free   

 

So if the attached study is correct, and even those with an anaphylaxis inducing allergy to a food comprise of less than 1% total morbidity RISK (not actual death) then this is completely overblown

 

If we did a risk assessment on our regular processes and the risk was that low, we'd likely not implement any control measures at all

[kfromNE]

Interesting.  My child has a food allergy but I think the noise about it is not always directed in the right way.

 

I had in my head there are about 10 deaths a year due to food allergies.  Looking that's a slight overestimate.  Now that's not to be sniffed at.  They are normally young people and it doesn't take into account the near misses and the stress of that.  But at c. 6 a year which the above figures suggest, it's not that different to the number of people killed by cows.

 

How Many People Are Killed by Cows Each Year- Deadly Truth (worldanimalfoundation.org)

 

Anyway I'm kind of joking...

 

But the reality of serious incidents with food or deaths with food allergy is most are caused by gross contamination.  Normally packing the item in the wrong packaging or using the wrong ingredient.  The trace cross contact issues rarely cause a problem.  I'm not saying we should ignore allergen cleaning and the detail that must go into that, what I'm saying is the smear on a surface caused by a dirty hand or lack of detail cleaning isn't likely to be the thing that causes one of those 6 deaths.

 

Also watch out for cows.  I don't trust them.  I don't like the way they mooooo-ve.

 

I'm surprised the number isn't higher for cows. I grew up on a farm and was always scared of them. A close family member has a metal rod in their leg from being ran over by one while working on the farm. Cows are large and will charge/kick when threatened. I would have thought the number to be at least 50.