• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.181-190
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to suggest strategies for effective food allergen labeling in order to prevent food allergies in school meal service. Food allergy experience, eating behavior, and perceptions of food allergen labeling in school meal service were surveyed and compared according to the food allergy experiences of middle school girls in Incheon. Seventy-eight students (17% of total subjects) experienced food allergies. For eating behaviors, students with food allergy experience had significantly higher scores for using nutritional knowledge in their life than inexperienced subjects. For the perception of food allergen labeling in school meal service, girls who had experienced food allergies more often checked labeling of school meals for allergenic foods than those who had no experience of food allergies (P<0.001). The most desirable method for displaying allergenic foods was an indication of the allergenic food name among students who had experienced food allergies and allergenic food number of the current method for students who had not experienced food allergies (P<0.001). Students who had not experienced food allergies showed significantly lower interest in food allergen labeling than subjects who had experienced food allergies (P<0.001). For the importance score of information items in nutrition labeling, allergenic food score was significantly higher in students who had experienced food allergies (3.9 vs. 3.4 points, P<0.001). These results indicate that students who have experienced food allergies are more interested in food allergen labeling of school meals and that they are more aware. Efforts to improve labeling method such as directly labeling allergenic food name and a more visible indication are required for efficient utilization of food allergen labeling in school meal service.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.283-294
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• 2018

Food allergy is a chronic disease that is increasing all over the world, and it can even lead to a loss of life. To prevent any incidents resulting from food allergies, most countries keep strengthening their food allergen labeling requirements domestically and internationally, with a constant monitoring system against undeclared allergens and recall of offending products. In order to avoid economic losses to industry and damages to international relations from undeclared allergens, it is necessary to confirm each country's regulatory policy on food allergen labeling prior to exportation. Another required action is to try for a reduction of the cross-contamination risk of the allergens during manufacturing and storage, which should be verified by using an accurate and reliable analysis of food allergens. This paper is intended to provide an introduction to the regulation of food allergen labeling by country, allergen management methods to avoid cross-contamination, and allergen detection methods using ELISA, PCR, and LC/MS. Changes of allergenicity during thermal or nonthermal processing also will be investigated in our review. This review will be helpful for the food industry to better understand patients suffering from food allergies and to manage food allergens in food manufacturing.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.325-331
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• 2012

Food allergy refers to an immunologically mediated adverse reaction to food, mainly to proteinaceous constituents. Health implications vary between those individuals who experience mild physical discomforts to those with fast-acting, life-threatening anaphylactic reactions. The prevalence of food allergy is higher in children than in adults, estimated around 4-8% and 1-2% respectively in developed countries. Food allergy has no effective cure at the present time and total avoidance of causative foods is the most reliable prophylactic method currently recommended by the medical community. To help food allergic patients to make informed choices of their foods, mandatory labeling of selected food allergens has been introduced in several countries. All food allergen labelling provisions specify a set of allergens common to the regulated countries. Policy divergence, however, exists between countries by inclusion of additional allergens unique to specific countries and enforcement of specific labelling requirements. Such variations in food allergen labelling regulations make it difficult to manage allergen labeling in imported pre-packaged food products. This paper addresses two current issues in food allergen regulation: 1) an urgent need to determine true prevalence of food allergy in the Asia-Pacific region. This will enable refinement to the food allergen regulation to be more country-specific rather than simply adopting CODEX recommendations. 2) There is an urgent need for harmonization of food allergen regulation in order to prevent food allergen regulation becoming a trade barrier.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.424-432
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Most consumers are able to recognize allergenic foods. However, the frequency of checking such foods is reportedly low, resulting in higher prevalence of food-related allergic reactions in Korea compared to other countries. Thus, this study was performed to investigate the overall perception of allergenic food labeling and its practice level in food manufacturing company employees. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The survey was administered to food safety employees and food development teams at food companies located in metropolitan areas. A total of 399 (93.8%) valid samples were used in the final analysis. Statistical analyses, including Frequency Analysis, t-test, Anova, PCA (Principal Component Analysis), and Pearson Correlation Analysis using SPSS ver. 21.0, were performed. RESULTS: The correct answer rate in the analysis of allergy-related knowledge level ranged from 15.0% to 89.7%. Analysis of differences in allergy-related perception by knowledge level showed significant differences in introduction of a food recall system, strengthening of relevant laws and regulations, content labeling, description of substitutional food, and differentiated package by age. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that labeling of allergenic foods should be made easier and more convenient for checking by employees, developers, and consumers, and it is necessary to provide contents through the development of publicity, guidelines, or APP along with labeling.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.521-531
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• 2016

This study was conducted to measure the prevalence of food allergies among kindergarten and elementary school children and their parents' perceptions of the Food Allergen Labeling System in school food service (FALSSFS). The surveys were conducted by the parents of children in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. According to the results, the prevalence of food allergies among the children was 21.9% (current group 8.1% and experienced group 13.8%). The features of the food allergy of the children were as follows : The onset time of allergy was at 1-2 years for 59 children (40.7%), at 3-4 years for 41 children (28.3%), and the main symptoms of allergy were 'rash and skin hives' (47.1%) and 'itching' (30.2%). In terms of the family history, the prevalence of allergies among the mothers was the highest with a value of 31.9%. The allergenic foods were egg (14.7%), pork (11.6%), and milk (8.9%) in the order. Most of the parents had a low perception of the FALSSFS. 26.2% of the parents requested preventive education related to food allergies at school, making this the most requested item, followed by "helping students understand students with food allergies" with a value of 20.2%. The benefit of the FALSSFS was to increase the safety of school food and promote the emotional health of children with allergies.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.257-263
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• 2021

For this survey, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing was conducted using 14 species-specific primers to monitor the labeling of allergy-causing substances in various foods. Sixty samples from stationary stores near elementary schools and imported confectionery shops were tested, including snacks, candies, and chocolate. Allergens of milk, wheat, eggs, tomatoes, almonds and peanuts were detected in 30 cases (50.0%). In addition, many products were detected as either containing unlabeled substances or not showing allergen-related information and labeling in Korean. In order to ensure that consumers are able to purchase products safely and securely, a system for thorough guidance and monitoring of allergen-related labeling by domestic manufacturing and processing companies and import-related companies is required.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.517-522
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate food allergens and prevalence rates of food allergies, followed by comparison of consumer attitudes and preferences regarding food allergy labeling by diagnosis of food allergies. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 543 individuals living in Seoul and Gyeonggi area participated in the survey from October 15 to 22 in 2013. RESULTS: The results show that the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed food allergies was 17.5%, whereas 6.4% of respondents self-reported food allergies. The most common allergens of doctor-diagnosed and self-reported food allergy respondents were peaches (30.3%) and eggs (33.3%), respectively, followed by peanuts, cow's milk, and crab. Regarding consumer attitudes toward food labeling, checking food allergens as an item was only significantly different between allergic and non-allergic respondents among all five items (P < 0.001). All respondents reported that all six items (bold font, font color, box frame, warning statement, front label, and addition of potential allergens) were necessary for an improved food allergen labeling system. PLSR analysis determined that the doctor-diagnosed group and checking of food allergens were positively correlated, whereas the non-allergy group was more concerned with checking product brands. CONCLUSIONS: An effective food labeling system is very important for health protection of allergic consumers. Additionally, government agencies must develop policies regarding prevalence of food allergies in Korea. Based on this information, the food industry and government agencies should provide clear and accurate food labeling practices for consumers.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.325-332
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to investigate and analyze food allergy labelling for the arrangement of improvement plans. Survey was done as a quantitative research targeting food industry employees with 399 random workers in Seoul and Gyonggi area. The data was analyzed using SPSS windows (ver. 12.0) for frequency analysis, t-test and factor analysis. The importance and performance of the food allergen labelling were divided by 15 items. Only 43.1% of the workers understood the operation allergic food labels. The first improvement on allergic food labels was "using boldface for food allergen labes". The importance of all of these factors was significantly higher than performance. The selection attributes with relatively low the performance but high importance(2 quadrant) were "consumer education for allergic food labels" and "training of professional counselors on food allergy". Therefore, the factors to be improved through the IPA were consumer education and training of professional counselors. With this research and extended efforts for revision of laws, reliability of food industry and accuracy of food labelling would improve, thereby boosting the productive commercial activities in labelling code.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2012

Since the prevalence of allergies is increasing, food allergy is a major concern for consumers, as well as for the food industry. The foods that account for over 90% of all moderate to severe allergic reactions to food are milk, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, fish, shellfish, wheat, and tree nuts. Of these food allergens, milk is one of the major animal food allergens in infants and young children. Milk is the first food that an infant is exposed to; therefore, the sensitization rate of milk in sensitive individuals is understandably higher. The mechanisms involved in allergic reactions caused by this hypersensitivity are similar to those of other immune-mediated allergic reactions. The reactions occur in the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and respiratory tract, with headaches and psychological disorders occurring in some instances. The major allergenic proteins in milk are casein, ${\beta}$-lactoglobulin, and ${\alpha}$-lactalbumin, while some of the minor allergenic proteins are lactoferrin, bovine serum albumin, and immunoglobulin. Reliable allergen detection and quantification are essential for compliance with food allergen-labeling regulations, which protect the consumer and facilitate international trade.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.514-528
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• 2014

This study examined the actual state and future improvement of food allergies in adolescents and adults in order to prevent damage. In this survey, proportions of females, people in their 40s, college graduates, and office workers and housewives with allergies were higher than other groups. Exactly 41.1% of participants responded that they had experienced food allergies while 58.9% responded that they had not. According to their responses, the most common food allergy symptom involved the skin while whole-body allergic reactions were rare. Most respondents answered that frequency of their food allergies was two or three times. There was a variety of allergenic foods, including fast food, eggs, mackerel and milk, and instant food was ranked as the most allergenic food. Therefore, in order to protect consumers from damage caused by food allergens, the food allergen labeling system must be improved. A better food allergen labeling system should be implemented to avoid potential risks of allergic reactions and ensure national food safety.