New international standards to end the misuse of

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the joint international body overseen by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), has officially adopted new guidelines aimed at standardizing how food allergens are labelled globally. This move represents a major shift in food safety, specifically targeting the inconsistent and often excessive use of Precautionary Allergen Labeling (PAL), such as the familiar "may contain" warnings.

While meant to warn of accidental cross-contact, "may contain" labels have become systematically overused by manufacturers as a safeguard against liability. This creates a significant problem: allergy sufferers often unnecessarily avoid safe foods or become desensitized to warnings, potentially exposing themselves to actual risk.

The new guidelines are the result of extensive expert consultations conducted by the FAO and WHO since 2020. By bringing together a diverse group of allergists, regulators, and scientists, the commission has established, for the first time, science-based thresholds for allergen content.

These thresholds represent specific levels of an allergen below which the vast majority of allergic individuals are unlikely to experience an adverse reaction. These evidence-based markers allow for a more precise approach to risk assessment, moving away from arbitrary labeling.

Under the updated framework, the Codex commission emphasizes that PAL should be a last resort. The core principles of the new guidelines include prioritizing prevention by urging food producers to implement rigorous hygiene and manufacturing practices to minimize or eliminate the risk of cross-contamination before even considering a label. Furthermore, PAL should be risk-based, applied only when cross-contact is unavoidable and where the measured risk exceeds the newly established scientific thresholds. Finally, these guidelines aim to improve transparency by restricting the use of "may contain" to strictly necessary situations, ensuring consumers can trust labels as reliable indicators of risk to make informed, safer food choices.

These guidelines complement existing international standards for the labelling of prepackaged foods, providing a much-needed clear protocol for the global food industry. By aligning manufacturing practices with clinical science, these standards aim to ensure that labels serve their true purpose: protecting the health of allergic consumers without imposing unnecessary, anxiety-inducing restrictions on their daily lives.

Source:

FAO

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