Sept 2005, Luxembourg
‘Identifying scientific criteria for allergenic foods of public health importance’
The Scientific criteria expert group, under the Food Allergy Task Force, hosted this event to review their draft paper and framework on identifying scientific criteria for allergenic food of public health importance. The broad range of participants met this timely and much needed piece of work favourably, indeed the breadth of stakeholder representation ensured the discussions were lively and fertile.
The driving force behind this work was the impending EC review of the allergenic food list. It was considered imperative that the scientific developments in food allergy were, not only communicated but also assessed in terms of public health importance, thus providing a potential tool for risk managers.
To aid transparency in the risk assessment process and rank the latest food allergy research, a weight of evidence approach was adopted. Identifying scientific criteria and attaching a weighted level of evidence is increasingly becoming important in the risk assessment process. In terms of food allergy this is of particular importance as classic toxicological risk assessment is only partly appropriate.
In practical terms, it is the aim of the expert group that risk managers, regulatory and industry, will use the framework as a tool to apply the appropriate risk management measure to a food allergen. Outcomes may show that labelling, for example, is not necessarily the most appropriate measure and could to some degree combat the rash of allergen labelling, much of which is not considered unhelpful by the consumer.
The efficacy of this approach and the proposed framework for applying the scientific criteria received much positive feedback from the invited risk managers. They felt they needed this tool in order to become familiar with and to ‘organise’ the scientific research and apply the appropriate risk management measure.
The timing of the event and the swift organisation by ILSI Europe, partly ensured the success and reflects the ability of ILSI Europe to respond rapidly to regulatory and scientific developments in the field. Another successful aspect has been the broad range of stakeholders invited, including risk managers, ensuring important cross-sectoral participation and debate.
And last but by no means least, the success of this event was ensured by the tireless work of the expert group members and the Chair, Rachel Ward. The paper and framework will be finalised early 2006 and published before the summer.
Following this, the next step for the expert group is to rigorously test this framework with real data. In 2007 the successful roundtable format will be repeated with a broad range of invited participants to review and discuss the new work.
Keep reading the Newsflash for the latest developments…..