EAACI issues European Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Public Declaration

The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’s (EAACI) calls on European and national health policy makers to take up the cause of food allergy. Public Declaration forms part of EAACI’s 2012-2013 Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to enhance knowledge of food allergy in the European community, as well as awareness on the sharp increase of food allergy and the triggers of anaphylaxis among policy makers and to educate the public on how to react in case of emergency. Throughout 2013, EAACI, Europe’s largest allergy medical association, will be reaching out to EU officials, providing recommendations and asking them to take concrete actions to improve the management and treatment of food allergies and anaphylaxis.  In part - EAACI aims to challenge certain aspects of current EU food labelling directives, which it feels, are insufficient in preventing the accidental consumption of allergens. Currently, some foods have the label “may contain peanuts” or “may contain milk” but this type of labelling (precautionary labelling) is not sufficiently regulated at the EU level. Labelling is an essential part of food allergy management for the sufferer and has an important impact on how they manage their diets. EAACI believes that the EU should set clear guidelines for labelling foodstuffs for allergens. This includes products which may contain allergen derivatives and should be clearly linked to the name of the allergen to avoid confusion. Additionally, to facilitate readability, EAACI advises that the typeset used to flag allergens should differ from the one used for other ingredients Read more here. Also available in French, Spanish, Italian and German.