01 October 2004
For immediate release

UNDERSTANDING FOOD ALLERGY

Food industry seminar from the Institute of Food Research

“Everyone knows there’s celery in a Waldorf salad.” So said a salad manufacturer recently, but do all salad manufacturers know that celery is one of the ingredients that must be clearly labelled under the new food labelling directive?

International experts at the Institute of Food Research are holding an industry briefing on food allergy on 14th October. As well as the forthcoming EU labelling directive the meeting will cover methods for detecting allergens in foods and EU initiatives in allergy research.

“The issues for the food and drinks industry are quite complex”, says Dr Clare Mills, co-ordinator of the Food Allergy Cluster, part of the Institute’s Food & Health Network. “But we’re learning more about what makes particular foods allergenic, and how food processing might affect this”, she continued.

Dr Mills, who will be leading the event, studies the properties of allergenic food proteins. She has extensive contacts with food allergy researchers across Europe and the US, and is the co-ordinator an EU research project to develop effective food allergy communication strategies (www.informall.eu.com).

All food and drink companies, including caterers, are welcome to attend. The Food Allergy cluster meeting is open to non-members of the Food & Health Network for a fee of £250. For more details of the Network activities and the programme for the day see www.foodandhealthnetwork.com.

Other areas of IFR’s expertise in food allergy research relevant to the food industry will be covered in future Allergy Cluster meetings. These include the effects of digestion on the ability of foods to cause allergy, effects of storage and processing on allergens in foods, and understanding how the human body becomes sensitized to some food proteins.

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Notes to editors

• The mission of the Institute of Food Research is to carry out independent basic, and strategic research on food safety, quality, nutrition and health. It is a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
• The Institute is based on the Norwich Research Park.
• Directive 2003/89/EC came into force on 25/11/03. Member states must prohibit, as from 25 November 2005, “the sale of products that do not comply with this Directive”. Source: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_308/l_30820031125en00150018.pdf

For further information contact:

Jo Belsten
Communications
Institute of Food Research
Norwich Research Park
Colney
Norwich NR4 7UA

Tel: +44 (0) 1603 255 111
Fax: +44 (0) 1603 255 168
e-mail: jo.belsten@ifr.ac.uk
www.ifr.ac.uk

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