What is the update to precautionary allergen labelling in Foodworks?
In Foodworks.online Nutrition Labelling, if a recipe or sub recipe has tree nuts declared as 'Maybe', tree nuts are now displayed in the precautionary allergen statement on the food label.
Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) is a voluntary statement that displays allergens that may be present due to cross-contamination. We recommend wherever possible using the individual name for tree nuts which may be present in foods, for example Almonds or Cashews.
However, there may be situations where you will need to prepare a statement that declares all (or virtually all) tree nuts. In this situation alternative descriptions such as 'Tree Nuts' may be appropriate to communicate this risk to the allergic consumer.
Therefore, you may now choose to declare cross-contamination of allergens in the precautionary allergen statements as either 'Tree Nuts' or by their individual names.
This change was informed by the Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling.
Will this impact my labels in Foodworks.online?
The short answer is maybe.
If you do not have the allergen Tree nuts enabled in your Workspace settings you will not be impacted by this change.
If you have the allergen Tree nuts enabled in your Workspace settings and the presence of this allergen is declared as 'Maybe' on your final recipe, then on the food label the precautionary allergen statement will display as:
May contain Tree Nuts
or
May be present Tree Nuts
If you would prefer to not have tree nuts display in your precautionary allergen statements, you can declare the allergen as 'No' on each of your recipes Overrides tabs. Or, to not have tree nuts declared for any of the recipe labels in your workspace, you can disable the allergen in the Nutrients and Components tab of the Workspace settings.
Does this impact Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) compliancy?
The Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) standard does not cover Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL). Therefore, you may declare tree nuts in your precautionary allergen statement and still be compliant against the PEAL guidelines. The ingredients statement will not indicate the ingredient that may have been subject to cross-contamination.
If you have the allergen Tree nuts enabled in your Workspace settings and the presence of this allergen is declared as 'Yes' on your final recipe, you allergen summary statement will not display tree nuts, as tree nuts are not one of the required names for making mandatory declarations.
In your allergen summary statement (this is the one that reads Contains Egg, Milk, Almonds etc) you must declare the individual tree nuts per there required name outlined in Schedule 9, for example: Almond, Brazil Nut, Cashew, Hazelnut, Macadamia, Pecan, Pine Nut, Pistachio or Walnut.
Further reading
Generating allergen declarations for labels
Declare allergens for a raw material
Override allergen declarations for a recipe or sub recipe
Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code: Schedule 9 – Mandatory advisory statements
Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling (FIGAML)
Allergen Bureau News 27 January 2021
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