Characteristics of allergen labelling and precautionary allergen labelling in packaged food products available in Latin America

ABSTRACT:The characteristics of food allergen labelling are relevant for avoiding accidental exposure to the allergens of interest but no Latin American country has evaluated these characteristics. Our aim was to evaluate the characteristics of food allergen labelling and precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) in six Latin American countries. All data were collected directly from the supermarkets surveyed. A total of 10,254 packaged food products were analyzed, of which 63.3% (n = 6494) 33.2% (n = 3405) featured allergen labelling and/or PAL, respectively. Most products complied with local regulations (≥87.4% for both locally produced and imported). Thirty-three types of PAL statements were detected; the most frequent was “may contain traces of . . . ” (35.1%). Countries without regulations on the characteristics of allergen labelling had two-fold more products that contained allergens in their ingredients lists but no food allergen labelling. The use of PAL in countries that regulate it (38.2%) was as high as that in countries without PAL regulations (19.2%–44.7%). The findings suggest that the lack of regulations for the characteristics of allergen labeling increases the risk of accidental exposure to allergens of interest. Our findings also suggest that beyond regulations, a scientific approach is required for minimizing and standardizing the use of PAL.

• Autores: Granda Restrepo, Diana María; Ontiveros, Noé; López Gallardo, Jesús Aristeo; Arámburo Gálvez, Jesús Gilberto; Beltrán Cárdenas, Carlos Eduardo; Figueroa Salcido, Oscar Gerardo; Mora Melgem, José Antonio; Rodríguez Bellegarrigue, Cecilia Ivonne; Vergara Jiménez, Marcela de Jesús; Cárdenas Torres, Feliznando Isidro; Gracia Valenzuela, Martina Hilda; Cabrera Chávez, Francisco
• Tipo de recurso: Article of investigation
• Fecha de publicación: 2020
• Institución: Universidad de Antioquia
• Repositorio: Repositorio UdeA
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co:10495/38228
• Acceso en línea: https://hdl.handle.net/10495/38228
• Palabra clave: Alérgenos; Allergens; Hipersensibilidad a los Alimentos - prevención & control; Food Hypersensitivity - prevention & control; Ingredientes Alimentarios - análisis; Food Ingredients - analysis; Etiquetado de Alimentos - legislación & jurisprudencia; Food Labeling - legislation & jurisprudence; Etiquetado de Alimentos - tendencias; Food Labeling - trends; Embalaje de Alimentos; Food Packaging; América Latina; Latin America; Medición de Riesgo; Risk Assessment; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D007843; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D018570; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D000485; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D005512; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D000074385; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D005515; https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D018857
• Rights: openAccess
• License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/