Overview

Allergen management in food businesses shouldbe seen as an integral part of existing food safetymanagement rather than a completely new system.An effective allergen management system mustconsider all operations from sourcing of raw materialsthrough manufacturing and packaging to the finishedproduct, including new product developmentThis evaluation should be carried out by personnelappropriately trained in allergen management.Documented procedures for the control and preventionof contamination must be in place and visible orreadily available to all employees in the work area. Theprocedures should contain information about:Product development guidelines in terms of allergens.Good hygiene, for example, rules regarding clothing,hand-washing and hand contact with foods.Cleaning of premises, equipment and tools.Handling of rework materials, for example, theconditions under which such products may be used.Waste management, for example, how waste shouldbe labelled and kept separate from rework.Situations where potential cross-contamination canoccur between raw materials, products, productionlines or equipment, and each employee's responsibilityfor preventing this.Production scheduling.Labelling of raw materials, semi-finished goods andfinished productsChanges to any process within a food productionfacility, or introduction of a new raw material orproduct, can affect allergen cross-contact risks forother products manufactured at the same site. Movingproduction of a product to another site may also alterthe allergenic risk associated with it. Any such changeswill therefore require a re-assessment of the originalrisk for all potentially affected products and, if required,application of new risk management measures. Anynew relevant risk identified, which cannot be reducedfurther, will need to be communicated to consumers, forinstance through advisory labelling

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