Market Opportunities
Many “allergen-free” foods exist
on the market. These are usually free
of one or a few allergens. The most
commonly available are gluten-free
and dairy-free, but peanut-free, nut-free, etc. are also available. A smaller
number of foods claim to be allergen-free, which is typically defined as free
of residues of any of the Big 8. Food-allergic consumers are often interested only in products that are free of
their specific allergen. However, some
consumers have multiple food allergies, so a market also exists for more
general allergen-free products (free
of the Big 8). See “Allergen-Free Success Stories” on page 20 for some examples of market leaders.
Making such products can be
quite challenging because many of
the commonly allergenic foods—
wheat, soy, milk and eggs—are very
(continued from page 20)
functional ingredients in food formulations. Finding substitutes for
these functional ingredients is difficult in some cases. Also, identifying
ingredient suppliers for products that are free of specific allergens or
all Big 8 allergens can be difficult.
Legal Considerations
Obviously, the key factor in making such a “free-from” claim is that
it must be truthful and not misleading in any way. All ingredients must
be analytically checked to ensure that they are free of detectable
residues of the allergen of interest.
If the product will be made by a contract manufacturer, then the facility should be free of that allergen or have a demonstrably excellent
allergen control program with validated allergen cleaning of any
shared-use equipment. If the product will be made in your own facility,
then any equipment should be dedicated or else must be able to be
cleaned of any allergen residues as validated by analysis. Testing must
then be performed on a regular basis to ensure that nothing changes
that would compromise the claim. o
Steve L. Taylor, Ph.D., is the co-director of the Food Allergy Research &
Resource Program (FARRP; www.farrp.org), in the Department of Food
Science & Technology at the University of Nebraska. FARRP provides allergen research and testing services, as well as consulting, training and
information services. Questions can be emailed to farrp@unl.edu.
