by Andrew Thomson on August 2, 2018
On the 1st August 2018, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) launched an Food Allergen Portal. The information on this portal offers free resources on Food Allergens. If you manage a food safety system, then this resource is for you. Now is the time to check it out. It has all the information you need to know.
On the FSANZ website: “A food allergy occurs when a person’s immune system reacts to allergens that are harmless to other people. Most food allergies are caused by peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, sesame seeds, fish and shellfish, soy, lupin and wheat. These must be declared on the food label, whenever they are present in food as ingredients (or as components of food additives or processing aids), however small the amounts present.”
For individuals who have a food allergy the only way to manage the allergy is to avoid the food allergen altogether.
The portal provides links to plenty of best practice food allergen resources and key messages for promotion in different sectors. The different sectors covered in the portal include:
- Manufacturers, retailers and importers
- Food service industry
- Childcare centres and schools
- Health professionals
- Government organisations
- Consumers
Each sector is broken down into what you need to know for “key messages” and background information that is titled “resources”. Then each resource section has links to websites, videos, fact sheets, lists and registers.
For those of you working in food service I have provided the link
Allergy information for the food service industry
Go ahead and check it out.