Europrevall

The prevalence, cost and basis of food allergy across Europe

Main contacts: Annabelle Boulay and Julie Houghton

Consumer Science is participating in a major European-funded multi-disciplinary project concerned with food allergy – Europrevall: The prevalence, cost and basis of food allergy across Europe.  This project is being coordinated by Clare Mills. 

The main aim of Europrevall is to deliver the information and tools necessary for policy makers, regulators and the food industry to manage food allergies effectively across Europe and hence deliver an improved quality of life to food allergic consumers.  Research activities within Europrevall include: characterising patterns and prevalence of food allergies across Europe in infants, children and adults; identifying risk factors and novel predictive markers for food allergy; developing methods to improve the quality of food allergy diagnosis; investigating how the food matrix affects the allergenicity of foods; determining the impact of food allergies for sufferers and their families in terms of quality of life and economic cost.  For further information see the project web site - www.europrevall.org

For the Europrevall project, the research activities of Consumer Science are focussing on one specific food allergen – peanuts.  One important aspect of allergy relates to dietary exposure to foods and the form in which they are consumed.  To complement research directed towards understanding the prevalence and molecular basis of allergic responses to peanuts, detailed information is needed on the utilisation and consumption of peanuts and peanut containing products.  In conjunction with partners in Bulgaria, Poland and Spain, the Consumer Science group are IFR is investigating patterns of utilisation and consumption of peanuts (from raw peanut to human ingestion) from 1975 to the present day.