Further supplementary letter from the
Food Standards Agency
There are a few points I should like to clarify:
CHEWING GUM
Thre are exemptions from most food labelling
requirements for small packages and this exemption applies to
chewing gum. However, if any of the specific allergenic ingredients
are used in chewing gum these would have to be labelled. The current
list of allergenic ingredients doesn't include latex, so there
is not requirement for this to be declared, although this list
can be amended if an additional allergenic food of public health
importance becomes apparent.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
TRAINING
In relation to training for enforcement offiers,
we described the training that the Agency is developing. However,
you should also be aware that there are many comercial organisations
currently providing training for Environmental Health Officers
and Trading Standards Officers, including the Chartered Institute
for Environmental Health (CIEH). The courses that they provide
on food safety could be extended to include food allergy and intollerance
and we are aware that there is a joint initiative between the
Food Standards Agency Wales and CIEH Wales to raise awareness
both of food allergy and intolerance issues with Welsh enforcement
officers.
GUIDANCE ON
ALLERGEN MANAGEMENT
AND CONSUMER
INFORMATION ("MAY
CONTAIN" LABELS)
We should also alike to clarify that this guidane
was produced by the Food Standards Agency, working in collaboration
with stakeholders, including the Food and Drink Federation and
the British Retail Consortium. We are grateful to them for producing
the first draft of the document, which was based on their own
previous guidance.
20 February 2007
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