DETECTION OF ALLERGENS IN MEAT PRODUCTS: MONITORING DURING THE YEAR 2007

Food allergies are an important health problem in industrialized countires. Undeclared allergens in the label represent a big risk for consumers. The Directive 2003/89/EC oblige to declare in the label all ingredients and derived substances, abolishing the rule of 25% and the possibility to indicate only one of the ingredients under the name of the class as in the old Directive 2000/13EC. In this study it is presented a monitoring plan of allergens in meat products during the year 2007 in the Pedmont Region. The analyses are carried out with an ELISA test for the detection of the egg-proteins and for the detection of milk protein; an UV-method is used to detect the lactose. The results show a percentage of 4.72% of analyses with a detection of allergens not declared in the label; for this reason it is important to continue an efficient and constant monitoring.