The Big Eight group of allergens was defined by an expert group in 1999, and after more than twenty years, it was time for a review. So the Codex Alimentarius Commission endorsed new work aimed at providing food business operators and competent authorities with updated guidance on managing food allergens in food production and labelling. In December 2020, FAO and WHO assembled a group of experts to perform this review in a series of consultations. In the first meeting, the experts were tasked with performing a risk assessment to identify priority food allergens based on prevalence, severity and potency.
I was an honor for us, Bert Popping and Carmen Diaz-Amigo, to have the opportunity to contribute to this group. Our group, that started the work in December 2020, had significantly more data to base their decision upon compared to the expert group in 1999. From the original list of the big eight, all but one of the foods or food groups were confirmed, and another food allergen made the list of the big eight. This shows that the experts back in 1999 did a great job in spite of a significant lack of data!
Our committee concluded that the list of priority allergens should contain the following:
- Cereals containing gluten (i.e., wheat and other Triticum species, rye and other Secale species, barley and other Hordeum species and their hybridized strains)
- Crustacea
- Eggs
- Fish
- Milk
- Peanuts
- Sesame
- Specific treenuts (almond, cashew, hazelnut, pecan, pistachio and walnut)
The committee evaluated numerous other allergens considered for this list, but there was often the lack of data on prevalence, severity and potency to justify such decision.
Download the summary report from FAO / WHO
A very big “Thank you” goes to Lauren Jackson for chairing the first round and to FAO and WHO staff for tirelessly and efficiently supporting our group.
