How scientists assess if a food is safe for allergic people

The law requires food companies to provide safe foods. As a consequence food companies need to find out if their products pose a risk for allergic people. In May 2007 the EU-project EuroPrevall conducted a workshop in cooperation with the UK Food Standards Agency and ILSI Europe. The workshop participants discussed three different ways of using available scientific data to predict if a food product is safe for the majority of allergic individuals. Each approach has weaknesses and strengths. For all of the approaches scientists would like more and better data to be able to predict the safety of a food product with more certainty.

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References
C. B. Madsen, S. Hattersley, J. Buck, S. M. Gendel, G. F. Houben, J. O'B. Hourihane, A. Mackie, E. N. C. Mills, P. Nørhede, S. L. Taylor, R. W. R. Crevel (2009).
Approaches to risk assessment in food allergy: Report from a workshop “developing a framework for assessing the risk from allergenic foods”.
Food Chem. Toxicol. 47(2), 480-489.

More information 
More EuroPrevall scientific results
EuroPrevall info: Food allergy basic facts and how to leave with it
EuroPrevall website
InformAll database - for detailed information on the foods, which may cause allergic reactions.