Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), together with government, industry and consumer groups, has launched a new portal providing manufacturers with information on how to manage food allergies.
The portal, which also targets consumers, is supported by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and comes just days before Food Allergy Awareness Week kicks off (13-19 May).
"Consumers with food allergies continue to benefit from the food manufacturing industry’s long and successful track-record of working collaboratively to ensure safer food choices,” AFGC chief executive, Gary Dawson, said.
The portal can be found on the FSANZ website, and was developed by the Allergen Collaboration – established by FSANZ in late 2011 to strengthen engagement and collaboration among a range of key stakeholders involved in managing food allergens.
"This new allergy portal is an important addition to the information and tools already available in promoting awareness about food allergies and how to manage them. The portal also allows new best practice resources to be promoted, as well as filling gaps in education materials," said Dawson.
Recent developments helping consumers to avoid food allergies include a new filter added to the food-scanning app, FoodSwitch, which allows users with coeliac disease or a gluten intolerance to avoid foods containing gluten.
The AGFC together with GS1 also recently launched the GoScan iphone app which allows consumers to view allergen declarations, ingredients lists and nutritional content by scanning the product's bar code.