Can we define a level of protection for allergic consumers that everyone can accept?

Substantial progress has been made in characterising the risk associated with exposure to allergens in food. However, absence of agreement on what risk is tolerable has made it difficult to set quantitative limits to manage that risk and protect allergic consumers effectively. This paper reviews scientific progress in the area and the diverse status of allergen management approaches and lack of common standards across different jurisdictions, including within the EU. This lack of regulation largely explains why allergic consumers find Precautionary Allergen Labelling confusing and cannot rely on it. We reviewed approaches to setting quantitative limits for a broad range of food safety hazards to identify the reasoning leading to their adoption. This revealed a diversity of approaches from pragmatic to risk-based, but we could not find clear evidence of the process leading to the decision on risk acceptability. We propose a framework built around the criteria suggested by Murphy and Gardoni (2008) for approaches to defining tolerable risks. Applying these criteria to food allergy, we concluded that sufficient knowledge exists to implement the framework, including sufficient expertise across the whole range of stakeholders to allow opinions to be heard and respected, and a consensus to be achieved

Chapter 1. Basics and advances in sampling and sample preparation

Analytical procedures typically involve a number of equally relevant steps for sampling, sample preparation, isolation of the target compounds, identification, quantification, and data handling. As in many other application fields, in most instances, extremely powerful separation-plus-detection techniques are used in food analysis for final instrumental determination of the target compounds. However, unless the matrix is simple enough, the concentration level of the investigated analyte(s) is relatively high, and the technique selected for instrumental analysis is highly selective, sample treatment is frequently mandatory, especially when dealing with complex matrices, as it is the case for foodstuffs. This chapter reviews recent progresses in the use of modern analytical techniques for sample preparation of food items before instrumental determination of the target analytes. Current trends in this active research field will be identified, and the main advantages and remaining shortcomings compared to conventional and official procedures will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to those approaches that aim to green and reduce the cost of the sample treatment process, in particular regarding the use of easily available, low cost, and eco-friendly extraction solvents