Food allergy scientists meet at LGC

Scientists from the Food and Health Network of the Institute of Food Research (IFR) involved in developing better tests for food allergens gathered recently at international science-based company LGC to share the latest developments in tackling the growing problem of food allergy.

Headed by IFR’s Professor Clare Mills, experts from LGC, research organisations, bioanalytical companies, food manufacturers and food regulation authorities discussed the key issues that are being tackled.

These included preliminary outcomes from the ‘EuroPrevall’ study, the largest ever study of its kind into the prevalence of food allergy, organised by IFR and involving 63 partner organisations in 23 countries.

The number of people affected by food allergy appears to be rising. Food allergy can severely impact on the quality of life of allergic consumers and their families, something that the EuroPrevall study has been assessing. The risk of death through anaphylaxis affects all aspects of allergic consumers’ life and behaviour, as well as presenting a significant challenge to society as a whole; as regulators, the food industry and health care systems must meet the significant public health challenge posed by allergies.

Professor Mills said “The EuroPrevall study, which will be reported in a series of papers over the next year, will add greatly to our knowledge of the prevalence and distribution of food allergy, LGC and IFR are at the forefront of analytical measurement in this key area of public health and we hope the dedicated work of all the participants in the meeting will mean safer and more convenient lives for food allergy suffers.”

The meeting also addressed better standardisation of tests and explored developments to benefit consumers and all stakeholders in the management of allergen cross-contamination in food. The future development of a reference material that can link clinical symptoms to analytical results would be another useful outcome.

The work discussed is being funded by the European Union (EuroPrevall, MoniQa) and the Food Standards Agency.