| Markets | International |
| Organization | European Commission |
| Topics | Labelling Food Safety and Security Contaminants, residues and contact materials |
The list of 8 major foods and ingredients (cereals containing gluten, crustacea, egg, fish, peanut and soybeans, milk, tree nuts) known to cause hypersensitivity was included into the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Packaged Foods (GSLPF) in 1999. Since then, there have been many scientific developments in the understanding of food allergens and their management. As such, 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 with the first in a series of meetings of the ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens evaluated “The big 8” and other food allergens based on prevalence, severity of reaction and potency. This meeting, Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens Part 1, focused on the review and validation of Codex priority allergen list through risk assessment.