Food allergens-food safety hazard

Abstract

Food allergy is a life-threatening chronic condition that substantially impairs quality of life. It constitutes a significant public health problem that affects children and adults and is a considerable burden on health, medical systems and emerging economies. Food allergy is defined as an adverse health effect arising from a specific immune-mediated response that occurs reproducibly on oral exposure to a given food and which can be mediated by food-specific IgE antibodies, by cellular mechanisms or by both. Appropriately managing food allergies has become an issue for the food industry because of the rising number of individuals with food allergies. Current initiatives to support consumers at risk include a recognised standard for manufacturers seeking to eliminate an allergen from their production, and the integration of food allergy into training for food business operators.