Food Safety

By: Adam Friedlander, Specialist, Food Safety and Technical Services, Food Marketing Institute

FMI has united with retailers, industry experts, and suppliers to help reduce the rate of allergen recalls. The Center for Retail Food Safety and Defense, in conjunction with the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), will coordinate best allergen labeling practices with a grant from the FMI Foundation to improve customer safety. This committee will support the food industry in identifying solutions to prevent allergen recalls by exploring various outreach and educational opportunities throughout the supply chain.

Undeclared allergens are the leading cause of U.S. food recalls. The top three reasons for allergen recalls are omitting allergens from the label, using the wrong package or label and using incorrect terminology. These recalls are 70 percent more likely to occur in departments that serve bakery, snack, candy, dressing and dairy products, according to a 2013 Journal of Food Protection study. Focusing efforts to minimize human error is essential to building consumer trust and ensuring the safety of food allergic individuals.

Preventing mislabeled products from reaching food retail is the mission of this project. By fostering collaborative relationships between suppliers and retailers, accurate allergen labeling can improve throughout the supply chain. Holding each other to stricter labeling standards can ultimately lead to fewer recalls and help us more rapidly identify the root cause of allergen labeling errors.

Recalls impact everyone in the food industry – ingredient suppliers, manufacturers, private brands, national brands, specialty brands, fresh prepared and retail. The best way to stay current on the latest food recalls is to subscribe to the FDA Recall Alerts and USDA Recall Alerts.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) work with state, local, and industry partners to publish press releases about recalls that may potentially present a significant or serious risk to the consumer.

This FMI Foundation supported research project on allergen labeling will complement FMI’s Retail Allergen Resource Guide that was developed to assist the retail food industry identify food allergen risks with store brand products; in-store practices and procedures; and employee and customer awareness and engagement.

For more information on this FMI Foundation project and for additional information on FMI resources please contact the FMI Center for Retail Food Safety and Defense or the FMI Foundation at foodsafetyteam@fmi.org.