The changing food allergen landscape in Europe calls for harmonised food allergen monitoring: position paper

With the changing food allergen landscape in Europe, there is an increasing need for the monitoring of (non-)prepacked food products to improve the protection of consumers with food allergies. Although food allergy is a condition affecting up to 10 % of the consumers worldwide, a European harmonised approach for the management of precautionary allergen labelling, allergen reference doses, analytical methods or food product monitoring is not in place. This leads to limited food choices for consumers with food allergies but can also result in the occurrence of serious allergic incidents. The current state of non-harmonised and unregulated food allergen monitoring in Europe means risks and considerable costs for the individual consumer, but also for society in general. In this position paper, we argue for the introduction of harmonised guidelines for food allergen monitoring on the European level based on a discussion of the wide-ranging implications their lacking entails. We believe that there is a pressing need to update the European legislation on food allergens, including the introduction of harmonised monitoring programmes, which will lead to improved overall food safety, and better protection and options for consumers with food allergies.