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Information for health professionals

Information for health professionals Health professionals (including allied health professionals) have an important role in helping people manage their food allergies. The Allergen Collaboration has agreed to a number of key messages on food allergy for health professionals and these are listed below. Key messages

• Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency and requires immediate treatment with adrenaline (epinephrine)
• People at risk of anaphylaxis need to be referred to a clinical immunology/allergy specialist or doctor with experience in food allergy management
• General practitioners or specialists should complete and provide ASCIA Action Plans and prescribe adrenaline autoinjector scripts if needed. In Australia, authorisation…

  Published 22 August 2022

Product exemptions from allergen labelling

Product exemptions from allergen labelling (February 2022) The Food Standards Code has exemptions from mandatory allergen labelling requirements for some foods and ingredients derived from allergenic sources. The following foods and ingredients have been assessed by FSANZ as safe for food allergies, because they are processed in a way that makes them suitable for consumers who are allergic to wheat, soy or dairy:

• glucose syrups made from wheat starch (exempt from declaring wheat)*
• fully refined soybean oil (exempt from declaring soy)
• the soy derivatives tocopherols and phytosterols (exempt from declaring soy)
• distilled alcohol from wheat or whey (exempt from declaring wheat or milk).

Published 7 February 2022

Food allergies

Food allergies A food allergy occurs when a person's immune system reacts to allergens in food. Most food allergies are caused by peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, sesame seeds, fish and shellfish, soy, lupin and wheat. These must be declared on the food label, whenever they are present in food as ingredients (or as components of food additives or processing aids), however small the amounts present. On 25 February 2021 the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) was amended to introduce new requirements for the labelling of allergens in food. The changes will make allergen information on food labels clearer and more consistent for food-allergic consumers by requiring simple, plain English allergen declarations in a specific format and location on food labels.  More information…

Published 1 December 2021

Food from cloned animals

Food from cloned animals (March 2016) Animal cloning is a type of reproductive technology. It creates an animal that is an exact genetic copy of another animal. The commercial use of cloned animals in agriculture has so far mainly been confined to the meat and dairy industries. The most common cloning method involves removing the genetic material from an unfertilised egg and replacing it with the complete genetic material from the animal to be cloned (the donor animal). The egg is then implanted into a surrogate mother who gives birth to an animal that is a clone of the donor animal. The cloned animal is then bred with other animals to pass on its desirable characteristics. Cloning is different to genetic modification. Genetic modification involves adding, taking away, or modifying genes. Cloning does not…

Published 8 September 2021

Food irradiation

Food irradiation New provisions permitting the irradiation of fresh fruit and vegetables as a means of controlling the spread of insect pests like fruit fly across our quarantine borders were gazetted in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) on 22 July 2021. This follows FSANZ's May 2021 approval of an application by the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to irradiate all types of fresh fruit and vegetables as a phytosanitary (pest control) measure. For more information about this application see:

• Application A1193 - irradiation as a phytosanitary measure for all fresh fruit and vegetables
• …

  Published 22 July 2021

Irradiation of fruit and vegetables

Irradiation of fruit and vegetables We recently approved an application by the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to irradiate all types of fresh fruit and vegetables as a phytosanitary measure (i.e. to control the spread of pests like fruit fly). Changes to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) to include this new permission were gazetted on 22 July 2021. Irradiation has been used in Australia and New Zealand for 20 years and internationally since the 1950s. This approval extends previous code permissions for 26 fruit and vegetables to cover all fruit and vegetables for one purpose only -  to stop pests moving from one quarantine region to another.  Irradiated food is safe Irradiated foods are not…

Published 22 July 2021

Nanotechnology and Food

Nanotechnology and Food (September 2022)    What is nanotechnology? Nanotechnology describes a range of technologies used to manipulate materials that are generally less than 100 nanometres (nm) in size in one dimension. One nm is one billionth of a metre. Are nanotechnologies being used in foods? There is little evidence to suggest nanotechnologies are being used in the food industry on a wide scale, although a lot of research is being undertaken on potential applications. Future applications of nanotechnologies could include nanostructured food products, nanoscale or nano-encapsulated food additives, or food packaging with improved properties. There are, however, certain foods including food additives that naturally contain nanoscale particles.  Are nanoscale materials new? Nanoscale…

Published 28 September 2022

Expert reaction - nanoparticles in baby formula

Expert reaction - nanoparticles in baby formula (July 2017) The following expert reaction to media reports on tests commissioned by Friends of the Earth which found the presence of nanoparticles in several Australian infant formula products has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian science Media Centre: Adjunct Professor Andrew Bartholomaeus is a consultant toxicologist with Adjunct Professor appointments at the University of Canberra and the University of Queensland. He has previously been the Chief Toxicologist for the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the General Manager of the Risk Assessment Branch of FSANZ. 'The Friends of the Earth slide deck presents the rather unexciting and facile observation that a food containing high levels of…

Published 2 July 2017

How the Code deals with vitamins and minerals that are added to foods

How the Code deals with vitamins and minerals that are added to foods (August 2018) How the Code deals with vitamin and mineral that are added to foods

• When a vitamin or mineral is added to food, the Code outlines requirements relating to the identity of the substance. For example only particular chemical forms of a mineral are able to be used. 
• When a chemical form is used it has to be compliant with a relevant 'specification' as listed in the Code. 
• Schedule 3 of the Code lists published sources for specifications relating to the identity and purity for the permitted forms of minerals. There are several sources listed. These specifications are internationally accepted 
• Schedule 29 of the Code lists…

  Published 3 August 2018

Nanoparticles and infant formula

Nanoparticles and infant formula Nanoscale materials are not new. Food is naturally composed of nanoscale sugars, amino acids, peptides and proteins, many of which form organised, functional nanostructures. For example, proteins are in the nanoscale size range and milk contains an emulsion of nanoscale fat droplets. Humans, including infants, have consumed these particles in foods throughout history without evidence of adverse health effects related to the materials nanoscale size. On this page

• January 2018
• July 2017

Published 3 August 2018