From EuroPrevall to iFAAM – Insights into Food Allergen Management

It has been estimated that up to 20 million European citizens suffer from food allergy. However management of both food allergy (by patients and health practitioners) and allergens (by industry) is thwarted by lack of evidence to either prevent food allergy developing or protect adequately those who are already allergic. The EU-funded EuroPrevall project collected data on the patterns and prevalence of food allergies across Europe and beyond, to enable effective, evidence-based approaches to managing food allergies. These complex data are now being utilised in the iFAAM project to:

(1) Extend and integrate existing cohorts from observation and intervention studies to provide evidence as to how maternal diet and infant feeding practices (including weaning) modulate the patterns and prevalence of allergies across Europe;

(2) Establish risk factors for the development of severe reactions to food and identify associated biomarkers;

(3) Develop a clinically validated tiered risk assessment and evidence-based risk management approach for food allergens for allergens in the food chain;

(4) Develop clinically relevant multi-analyte methods of analysis suited to allergen management across the food chain.

The new data generated in iFAAM will broaden the evidence base to support efforts to revise and update the list of allergenic ingredients in Annex II of the EU Food Information Regulation. The data on threshold doses, risk models and their clinical validation will also support the development of evidence-based action levels for allergens in foods. In parallel, clinically relevant analytical tools are being developed, utilising ingredients and foods that have a defined allergenic activity, thus helping to provide analysts with much needed quality control samples with potential to be developed into properly validated reference materials in the future. The iFAAM project will also deliver a knowledge base that is needed by public health authorities to develop new guidance with respect to dietary advice to pregnant and breast feeding mothers and with regards infant feeding practices (including weaning).