Should additional food allergens have mandatory labelling due to anaphylaxis risk?

The European Regulation list on mandatory labelling of foods includes 14 allergenic foods. Research published in Clinical & Experimental Allergy has identified eight additional foods frequently involved in food-induced anaphylaxis. 

The research was based on an analysis of food-induced anaphylaxis cases reported to the Allergy Vigilance Network from 2002–2023. Allergenic foods involved in ≥1% of cases and not included in the European Regulation list included goat’s and sheep’s milk (2.8% of cases), buckwheat (2.4%), peas and lentil (1.8%), alpha-gal (1.7%), pine nut (1.6%), kiwi (1.5%), beehive products (1.0%), and apple (1.0%). 

Due to their frequency, severity, recurrence, and potential for hidden exposure, the study’s investigators propose that four of these—goat’s and sheep’s milk, buckwheat, peas-lentil, and pine nut—be considered for inclusion on the European mandatory labelling of foods list. The recurrence rate (the same allergen causing several anaphylactic accidents in the same patient) for these foods ranged from 7.3% for peas–lentil to 56% for goat’s and sheep’s milk. 

“In our series of nearly 3,000 food anaphylaxis cases, 413 were caused by one of these eight ‘emerging food allergens’ without mandatory labelling, with 2 deaths,” said corresponding author Dominique Sabouraud-Leclerc, MD, of CHU Reims, in France. "We therefore believe it is time to review the list of the 14 foods with mandatory labelling to include at least the most severe of these emerging food allergens." 

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cea.70130

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About the Journal
Clinical & Experimental Allergy is the official Journal of the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology, publishing clinical and experimental observations in disease in all fields of medicine in which allergic hypersensitivity plays a part. Clinical & Experimental Allergy strikes an excellent balance between clinical and scientific articles and carries regular reviews and editorials written by leading authorities in their field.

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