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Undeclared allergen food recall statistics (1 January 2017 - 31 December 2022)

Page last updated April 20223FSANZ data on Australian food recalls helps identify key issues, track trends and develop prevention strategies. Undeclared allergens is the most common reason for food recalls year-on-year. Below is an analysis of food recalls due to undeclared allergens since 2017. This information expands on analysis of
food recall statistics for the last 10 years. These statistics are updated annually.

Table 1: Undeclared allergen food recalls 2017-2022

  2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2022


Number of undeclared allergen recalls 35 46 33
51 38 29
% of total recalls for that year 50%
46%
38%
47%
48%
39%


Problem detection

Problem detection information is collected when FSANZ coordinates a recall. It is separated into five categories listed at Table 2. The 'other' category is used for detection that does not fit within the four categories (including unreported). 

Table 2: Problem detection for undeclared allergen recalls 2017-2022



Detection
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2022


Total
Customer complaint 16 21 16 18 20 11
102
Distributor or retailer complaint 3 1 1 2 0 1
8
Other
2
5
6
11
10
5
38
Routine government testing 6
5 6 12 8 3
40
Routine testing by the company 8
14 4 8 0 9
43

Figure 1. Number of recalls by allergen detection

As shown in Figure 1, customer complaint is the most common method of detecting the need to recall food due to undeclared allergens. 

Root cause

FSANZ uses information provided at the time of recall and in the post recall report to determine the root cause of undeclared allergen recalls. FSANZ has reviewed allergen-related recalls and identified 5 root causes of undeclared allergens:

Packaging errors, for example:
  • product packed in the wrong packaging
  • front of pack dairy free claim instead of a gluten free claim
  • incorrect ingredient list.

Accidental cross contamination either of a raw ingredient or during the final production process.

Lack of skills and knowledge to fulfil labelling requirements, for example:

  • pasta was declared as an ingredient, but wheat was not
  • ingredients were reformulated however labelling did not reflect the new ingredients
  • ingredients were not fully-translated into English from the original language.

Supplier verification issues, for example a raw ingredient contained an allergen but this information was not passed on to the manufacturer.

Unknown, for example:

  • the food business was not able to determine what caused the issue at the time of recall, or when submitting their post recall report
  • the food business did not provide enough information to FSANZ to identify root cause at the time of recall, or in their post recall report. 

Table 3: Root cause for undeclared allergens food recalls mid 2017-2022

Root cause 
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2022
Total 
Accidental cross-contact
2
5
6
6
8
4
31
Lack of skills and knowledge

0
1
0
6
3
4
14
Packaging errors 21
22
16
22
13
7
101
Supplier verification issues 7
9
4
8
9
9
46
Unknown 1
4
4
1
3
5
18
Total  31 41 30 43 36 29
210


Figure 2. Number of recalls by allergen root cause

Page last updated 6 December 2023