It’s been reported in a study on Food allergen recalls in the United Kingdom, that more than half of food recalls over a 6-year period (2016 – 2021) were due to allergens. During this time, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FFS) published 1,036 recalls from the UK, with 597 of these recalls being related to allergens.

The number of allergen related recalls increased annually until 2019, peaking at 118, before we saw a decline in numbers in 2020 and 2021, down to 82 and 84 respectively. The reduction could potentially be a result of improved labelling within the industry, but it could also be a direct or indirect impact of the COVID pandemic.

In 2019-20, figures show more than 7,700 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of allergic food reactions in the UK were made and 10 food allergy-related deaths occur annually.

For the 597 recalls, six reasons were identified, with the omission of priority allergen labelling being the main one, followed by cross-contamination and then products packed into the wrong packaging.

The other three reasons were a result of lack of emphasis on priority allergen labelling, products not being labelled and lastly, items found to contain the allergen they were declared free from.

During the 6-year period, 316 manufacturers or companies issued 597 recalls for 1,213 products and more than 50 businesses recalled at least six products.

Of those 50 companies, eight of the highest frequency food retailers were Lidl, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s,  Asda, Co-Op, Morrisons, and Booths. All these stores had recalls due to either cross-contamination or the presence of unwanted allergens.

From this study, it shows that manufacturers and retailers need to focus on managing allergen labelling at all stages of the supply chain to drive down the recalls. Businesses need to recognise the errors prior to distribution, particularly those where the allergen is missing from the label, or not emphasised correctly, it’s not in English or the wrong product has been packed.

To read the article from Food Safety News in full, click here.