UK recall: May contain Peanuts

Posted on: October 8, 2024 in Allergens

What do we know so far?

Since the 17^th September 2024 announcement by the UK Foods Standards Agency (FSA) on the recall of foods containing mustard with undeclared peanut contamination, there have been eleven further FSA updates and over 130 foods affected. These foods sold under different brand names include dips, sauces, prepacked sandwiches and salads. The FSA have taken a precautionary approach and instructed those with a peanut allergy to avoid consuming foods that contain or may contain mustard, mustard powder or flour. Though what do we know about the level of peanut contamination detected? Because this is important to understand the risk posed – alongside the physical form of the peanut, as if it is particulate in nature, this will affect both sampling & analysis.

At this stage, there has been no indication of the levels of peanut detected in the mustard ingredients, which have been traced via a UK ingredient supplier and the FSA’s investigation, to three suppliers in India. Though on the 23^rd September, the European Commission RASFF Alert reported the presence of peanut in dips and sauces (Notification 2024.7065), assessing the risk as serious.

Understanding the assessed risk may provide greater understanding. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have established recommended threshold values for allergens in food to support precautionary allergen labelling (PAL). The threshold values are based on reference doses (RfD), which are defined as milligrams of protein at the ED05. The ED05 is the dose at which 5% of the population with an allergy to a specific food might react. For peanut, the recommended threshold is 2 mg peanut protein. Whereas, the UK Committee of Toxicity reported (5 August 2023) that food allergen risk assessments produced by the FSA and some members of the food industry are conservative and should continue to be based on the use of ED01 (i.e. predicted to provoke reactions in no more than 1% of the allergic population). The ED01 threshold for peanut is 0.2 mg peanut protein and the ED05 is 2mg peanut protein.

If applying PAL (assuming all allergen controls are effective and a thorough risk assessment has been performed) to a BBQ dip and a sandwich containing mayonnaise based on ED01 and ED05 thresholds, PAL would be applied with the following concentration of peanut :

• BBQ dip: assuming a portion size of 25g, and it contained 10% (w/w) mustard powder

With the mustard powder ingredient being 10% (w/w) of the dip, the potential peanut content of the mustard powder based on ED01 & ED05 would be :

• Sandwich containing mayonnaise: assuming a 250g portion, containing 10% mayonnaise of which 10% is mustard powder (% w/w basis)

With the mustard powder ingredient being 10% (w/w) of the mayonnaise and the mayonnaise being 10% of the sandwich, the potential peanut content of the mustard powder based on ED01 & ED05 would need to be:

Therefore, in these hypothetical scenarios the mustard powder would need to have a potential peanut protein content of ≥80 mg/kg (based on ED01) and ≥800 mg/kg (based on ED05) for PAL to be applied (to the products to be consumed). Illustrating two quite different PAL labelling scenarios depending upon the actual peanut contamination content (and consumer consumption).

It is hoped by industry that more information will be shared about the current FSA multiple alerts. Understanding the root cause(s) for the incident(s), any learning outcomes for supplier risk assessments and given the scale of the recalls the health impact on any food hypersensitive consumers. In terms of the analytical perspective on food allergen detection and its reporting, Bio-Check are pleased to provide advice and guidance on this topic, as well as assessing suitable test kits for detection.