WAO Solicits Public Comment on Precautionary Allergen Labeling

ROME — World Allergy Organization (WAO) is soliciting comments and suggestions regarding the World Allergy Organization consensus on the use and practice of precautionary allergen labeling (ACT-UP!): An international e-Delphi. The comment period ends on June 15.

Food allergy, a significant global health concern, affects millions of individuals and impacts their quality of life, and the prevalence is rising, said WAO. To protect allergic consumers from the risk of unintended allergen presence (UAP), food manufacturers often apply Precautionary ("may contain") Allergen Labeling (PAL) to communicate the potential presence of unintended allergens.

However, PAL in most countries is not regulated, and the decision to apply PAL is entirely voluntary; as a result, the use is inconsistent, said WAO.

The ACT-UP! e-Delphi consensus process focused on generating 35 recommendations, which are ready for review at https://www.WorldAllergy.org/act-up.

Leading the consensus process are steering committee members Alessandro Fiocchi, M.D., (chair), Bambino Gesu Children's Hospital in Rome, Italy, and secretary general and treasurer, WAO board of directors; Paul Turner, RCPCH, Ph.D. (chair), of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom; Antonio Bognanni, M.D., Ph.D., of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; and Stefania Arasi, M.D., Ph.D., Bambino Gesu Children's Hospital, Rome, together with an international expert panel.

According to Fiocchi, the invitation is for the scientific community, healthcare professionals, food and beverage operations and organizations, patient associations and the general public to comment and make suggestions.

"The focus is on the feasibility, acceptability and implementation capacity of the proposed recommendations and guidelines,” said Fiocchi. “The ACT-UP! Expert Panel will use the responses to update and revise the report."

The ACT-UP! initiative intends to provide support to relevant authorities in enabling legislation on PAL.

Mário Morais-Almeida, M.D., of Hospital CUF Descobertas in Lisbon, Portugal, and the WAO president, explained that the ACT-UP! findings support the recommendations of the consultation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO).

"As we saw last year in the WAO narrative review of the FAO/WHO consultation, all agree there is a need for a comprehensive, evidence-based regulatory framework to govern use of PAL,” said Morais-Almeida.