Allergen Management

Developing, implementing and maintaining an allergen management plan may initially seem like a challenging endeavour. However, we’re here to make this journey smoother and more achievable for you and your team. We’ve crafted a comprehensive approach to allergen control, drawing on our team’s expertise in the medical, legal, analytical, food safety and practical control aspects of allergens and allergen management. Our primary goal is to assist you in creating logical, straightforward and highly effective allergen management plans. FACTS is your trusted partner, offering a range of consultation services for allergen management. We’re truly enthusiastic about collaborating with you, our valued client, to help you successfully reach your allergen management objectives.

Allergen management support

The South African regulations, food safety standards and retailer guidelines clearly outline the food industry’s responsibilities regarding allergen control. In recent years the GFSI-benchmarked food safety standards have increasingly emphasised the importance of allergen management, which has highlighted the need for manufacturers to validate, verify, monitor and continuously improve their allergen controls in order to show due diligence.

An allergen management plan is an organisation’s formal, documented plan that describes all the controls and processes in place for managing allergens, from start to finish.

Typically, allergens are controlled at different manufacturing stages, from selecting material suppliers and receiving ingredients to final product packing. The objective of allergen controls is to prevent and mitigate the risk of allergen cross-contact or contamination, and therefore the risk of undeclared allergens in a final product.

We support our clients through on-site or remote consultation, with the following areas of their allergen management plans:

  • Developing and implementing allergen management plans
  • Allergen root cause analyses
  • Allergen risk reviews
  • Allergen management plan audits
  • Quantitative Risk Assessment

Allergen risk reviews

To establish and implement effective allergen controls, it is essential to identify all potential allergen sources and cross-contact points associated with materials and the manufacturing process (where allergen contamination may occur), and to evaluate whether existing controls (which form part of the PRPs) reduce the likelihood of allergen cross-contact to an acceptable level and whether additional allergen controls are required.

Every step in the manufacturing process should be considered; points where allergens may be introduced must be identified, and allergen contamination controls must be established, implemented and monitored to ensure that cross-contact is avoided.

We support our clients through on-site or remote consultation, with the following areas of their allergen risk reviews:

  • Raw material and supplier allergen risk reviews
  • Manufacturing process and environment risk reviews
  • Allergen management plan audits, which entail reviewing the strengths and deficiencies of an existing allergen management plan

Allergen quantitative risk assessment

If a product or its ingredients have the potential to be contaminated by common allergens, the South African Labelling Regulations (R. 146/2010, as amended) require manufacturers to complete a risk assessment and determine whether precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) is required. Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is a formal and systematic risk analysis approach to quantifying risks; an allergen QRA guides an organisation’s decision regarding whether or not PAL is necessary.

QRA, as used in the VITAL® Program, considers known allergen threshold values, the form the contamination takes, the extent of the cross-contamination, batch sizes, and how much protein from the cross-contact allergen the consumer is likely to consume in a worst-case serving size.

It establishes whether a contaminated product is likely to be a risk to allergic consumers. The risk assessment must therefore be approached with purpose, and provide meaningful information.

We support our clients through on-site or remote consultation, with the following areas of their allergen quantitative risk assessment:

  • Establish whether precautionary allergen labelling is required.
  • Establish whether additional allergen controls are necessary.
  • Formulate a crisis-response plan (e.g. in the case of a recall or withdrawal) by providing a science-based opinion on allergen risk.

Public and in-house allergen training

We offer a range of general and customised allergen training courses. Please visit our training calendar and in-house training pages for more information, and to see which of our popular general workshops, masterclasses and webinars are coming up next.

Customised in-house training, a programme designed for your organisation’s specific requirements, can be done virtually or on-site. FACTS will include practical examples directly related to your facility’s products and/or systems, enabling your team to workshop solutions to your specific challenges. Please visit our in-house training page to see which popular training courses suit your needs.

We are standing by to discuss your training questions; please contact us, or request an in-house training quote by completing our our easy-to-use online form.

Food allergen testing

There are various reasons that it may be necessary to test samples for the presence of allergens. One of the reasons is to prove that a ‘free-from’ claim can be made – for example, ‘gluten-free’. Other reasons include checking for accidental allergen contamination, and as part of a due-diligence testing schedule. However, the most frequent reason for testing is the validation and verification of the efficacy of allergen cleaning.

The FACTS Laboratory is SANAS accredited, and uses cutting-edge analytical approaches to accurately detect and quantify food allergens in a variety of sample types and products.

Food products are highly complex biological samples, due to the countless biomolecules that comprise them. The complexity of these samples demands careful consideration when selecting the methods used to process the samples. The most suitable method ensures a high degree of confidence in detecting and confirming the absence or presence of trace amounts of allergens. As part of our allergen management support services, we offer a comprehensive range of food allergen testing procedures.

Allergen rapid kits and matrix checking

Rapid on-site testing kits are ideal for allergen cleaning verification and screening activities, and can be used to test rinse water, surface swabs, ingredients and finished products.

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ rapid on-site test kit; whether a kit is suitable for your purposes will depend on an array of factors, including the manufacturing environment, product composition, cleaning methods, etc.

As part of our allergen management support services, we offer a range of curated rapid on-site testing kits, which have been selected based on their technical performance and ease of use. In addition, we also provide matrix-checking services to confirm that a particular kit will provide reliable results for your specific circumstances and samples.

Browse our news articles for key insights and explore our resource centre for useful tools.
Please contact us  to talk through your food testing requirements.
Our helpful team is standing by to connect.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

ALLERGEN TRAINING

Do we need a fully equipped training room?

No; FACTS can supply a data projector, screen and sound, and can also arrange a training room if necessary.

ALLERGEN MANAGEMENT

Why is allergen management important?

When present in a food, food allergens can trigger potentially life-threatening reactions in highly sensitive individuals. There is also a growing body of scientific evidence that shows a marked increase in the number of individuals suffering from food allergies. The food industry’s responsibilities in terms of allergen control are well described in various South African regulations. Some of these responsibilities include the establishment of policies and procedures to facilitate food allergen declaration, control and risk assessment. In recent years, GFSI (Global Food Safety initiative) benchmarked food safety standards have increasingly emphasised the importance of allergen management, leading to a marked increase in the number of allergen-related findings and the need for tighter allergen controls.

I have to develop an allergen control plan for our facility. Where do I start?

It’s always a good idea to start at the beginning, with your raw-material suppliers and raw materials. You need to know which allergens you are working with, and in which raw materials they are found, before you can start to put control measures in place.

What are the legal limits for food allergens in South Africa?

There are no legal limits for food allergens other than for gluten, the limit for which is 20ppm before a claim to being gluten-free can be made on the label. VITAL® is a risk assessment tool that incorporates LOAELs (lowest observed adverse effect levels) into the process of determining whether a precautionary statement is necessary.

What is the difference between allergen cleaning validation and verification?

Allergen cleaning validation and verification are two very distinct and different processes. Allergen Control Validation (e.g. allergen cleaning validation) entails proving that a control programme is effective. It often involves submitting samples to a reputable and accredited laboratory. Allergen Control Verification (e.g. cleaning verification) shows that the validated control was performed correctly. Ideally, it should be done on site; due to the associated financial and time constraints, laboratory-based methods are not ideal for verification.

Do we need to control celery and mustard as allergens in our facility?

Celery and mustard are not regulated common allergens in South Africa. If you supply only to the SA market and do not export to regions such as the EU, where these foods are regulated allergens, you do not have to control celery and mustard.

RAPID ON-SITE TESTING KITS

I need a kit that I can use on site. Does FACTS sell rapid on-site testing kits?

Yes, we sell a range of allergen, total-protein and meat-species test kits that are ideal for on-site testing. View our catalogue for more information.

How long does it take to do an on-site rapid kit test?

Rapid kits generally generate results within 11 to 45 minutes, depending on the system you choose.

How do I go about ordering a rapid on-site testing kit?

You can request a quote from our website. If you are not sure which kit to select, you are welcome to contact one of our knowledgeable team members. On receiving your request we will send you a quote, together with any other relevant information.

When will kits be delivered?

Lead times can be as short as three working days, but range between three and 14 working days; the exact time depends on availability. Lead times exclude weekends and public holidays. Note that the day the order is received is not included in the lead time; for example, if we receive an order on Monday, Tuesday will be day one of the lead time.

Browse our news articles, and please contact us to talk through your food testing requirements.
Our helpful team is standing by to connect.