Information about allergens

The food supervisors of environmental activities in the Lappeenranta and Imatra regions have prepared a bulletin on allergens and special diets. An important topic when talking about food safety in the food chain, but why? Attached is a little background for this idea.

Food industry operators must make every effort to prevent allergens from unintentionally entering food as contamination. Operators must have knowledge of allergen hazards and must have the necessary work practices/instructions to minimize the hazards. The food industry operator must also have appropriate and functional work practices/instructions to ensure that allergens are correctly marked on the package labels. 

--Packaging labels are an important source of information for the consumer and therefore it is very important that the consumer can trust the labels, This is especially important for people with food allergies or hypersensitivity to certain food substances, says the environmental engineer Tiina Päätalo From the Imatra region's environmental initiative. 

For allergy sufferers, consuming foods where the allergen is not labeled or mislabeled/declared can cause unpleasant, mild symptoms as well as life-threatening symptoms. 

More information: environmental engineer Tiina Päätalo, tiina. patataloimatra.fi (tiina[dot]paatalo[at]imatra[dot]fi)