Undeclared peanut and almond cases
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) own investigation of lamb takeaway dishes for meat substitution found that 7% of dishes with a sauce contained undeclared allergens. The levels of undeclared peanut and almond present were low but sufficient to elicit a reaction in sensitive consumers. The levels found are likely to be indicative of contamination of ingredients or cross-contamination during food preparation. In separate, unrelated incidents in North America, since the start of the year there has been a widespread series of recalls of undeclared peanut in foods, originally starting from a single recall concerning undeclared peanut in cumin. Since then the FDA has advised consumers with peanut allergy to avoid foods containing ground cumin or cumin spice. The contamination is believed to have occurred in the supply chain, in which there is a severe shortage following crop failures in the major growing regions of India. Following these cases in North America, the UK’s FSA launched a sampling programme to test for peanut and almond. Testing by the FSA and retailers revealed undeclared almond in two fajita products as well as in ground cumin; all three products were recalled. A large, Scandinavian-owned spice producer has subsequently withdrawn some different spice blends across Scandinavia after paprika testing proved positive for almond. Even though these cases are unrelated, the spice industry is responding to the supply chain concerns; it has met with other stakeholders to better understand existing controls and vulnerabilities and conducted significant amounts of its own allergen testing. Both ELISA and PCR methods are being used to analyse samples, which by their nature, these sample types can be problematic. Contact us to discuss your testing requirements