title: A survey of food allergen control practices in the U.S. food industry.
abstract: Despite awareness of the importance of food allergy as a public health issue, recalls and adverse reactions linked to undeclared allergens in foods continue to occur with high frequency. To reduce the overall incidence of such problems and to ensure that food-allergic consumers have  the information they need to prevent adverse reactions, it is important to understand which allergen control practices are currently used by the food industry. Therefore, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration carried out directed inspections of registered food facilities in 2010 to obtain  a broader understanding of industry allergen control practices in the United States. The results of these inspections show that allergen awareness and the use of allergen controls have increased greatly in the last decade, but that small facilities lag in implementing allergen controls.
authors: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740, USA. steven.gendel@fda.hhs.gov
authors: Steven M
authors: SM
authors: Gendel
authors: Nazleen
authors: N
authors: Khan
authors: Monali
authors: M
authors: Yajnik
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology; D001364:Awareness; D005502:Food / Q000009:adverse effects; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005525:Food-Processing Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens