TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of allergen labelling and precautionary allergen labelling in packaged food products available in Latin America
AU - Ontiveros, Noé
AU - Gallardo, Jesús Aristeo López
AU - Arámburo-Gálvez, Jesús Gilberto
AU - Beltrán-Cárdenas, Carlos Eduardo
AU - Figueroa-Salcido, Oscar Gerardo
AU - Mora-Melgem, José Antonio
AU - Granda-Restrepo, Diana María
AU - Rodríguez-Bellegarrigue, Cecilia Ivonne
AU - Vergara-Jiménez, Marcela de Jesús
AU - Cárdenas-Torres, Feliznando Isidro
AU - Gracia-Valenzuela, Martina Hilda
AU - Cabrera-Chávez, Francisco
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. 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) and 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.
AB - Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. 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) and 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.
KW - Allergen labelling
KW - Latin America
KW - Packaged food products
KW - Allergen labelling
KW - Latin America
KW - Packaged food products
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85090203031&origin=inward
U2 - 10.3390/nu12092698
DO - 10.3390/nu12092698
M3 - Article
C2 - 32899689
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
SN - 2072-6643
IS - 9
ER -