Working with food allergies goes back to the early 1990’s, to a consumer inquiry regarding a child who had just been diagnosed with a food allergy.
Food Allergen Guidance
Working with food allergens goes back to the early 1990’s, to a consumer inquiry regarding a child who had just been diagnosed with a food allergy.
Ingredient Labeling
Gale’s work in food allergens goes back to the late 1980’s, to a consumer inquiry regarding a child who had just been diagnosed with a food allergy. The child’s mother was inquiring about ingredient labeling. A community interest group had formed to share information among families managing their children’s dietary restrictions, because reaction prevention meant “strict avoidance” of the allergen. From working with the group, Gale quickly understood the importance and the challenges of identifying allergens in foods.
In those early years…
Gale worked with the newly formed Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network in fostering educational materials for consumers and food trade groups, with the help of the Food Allergy Research & Resource Program at the University of Nebraska. The U.S. Congress passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in 2004, addressing labeling requirements for the most common food allergens in the US diet. In 2021, Congress passed the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act (FASTER Act). It designated sesame as the ninth major food allergen, requiring it to be labeled on packaged foods and dietary supplements as of January 1, 2023.
The Food Code
The Food Code also stipulated that when foods are ordered by the consumer, onsite food allergen information shall be available when requested by the consumer. All responses to consumer requests about allergens shall be ACCURATE!
Remember – A person allergic to a food must “STRICLY AVOID” that allergen ingredient, as their life may be at stake!
During the past few years, Gale has served on allergen committees of the Conference for Food Protection on updating the requirements for handling allergens at food service and food retail locations.
Services
Sage Food Safety welcomes the opportunity to review your allergen program with an eye to avoid the most common causes of
- cross contact,
- label inaccuracies,
- non-compliance with regulatory agencies, and
- human factors in managing food allergen control programs.
This is to help you prevent costly recalls by identifying the human factors that may be impacting your allergen control programs.
We study the latest allergen recall trends to develop information needed to train your team regarding effective allergen control programs. We can provide these trends in a detailed report.
