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This product survey aims to critically assess the allergen label status on Thai prepacked food products imported in Australia and their potential risks to allergic consumers through the risk assessment of undeclared allergens. Of 549 Thai products surveyed, 527 products (96%) provided original labels in both Thai and English with no discrepancies. Two hundred fourteen products (39%) stated the precautionary allergen label (PAL) statements in English on the original label provided by the manufacturers. A total of 65 products analyzed by ELISA for egg, milk, wheat and peanut residues revealed that 22 products (33.8%) contained at least one allergen residue, ranging from 1.1 to 806.6 ppm. Fifteen of these (23.1%) contained allergen residue levels exceeding the Voluntary Incident Trace Allergen Labeling (VITAL®) Action Level 2, which recommended PAL statements. Among them, 7 products (46.7%) did not contain PAL statements and 1 out of 8 products with PAL statements (12.5%) had inaccurate allergen information. Based on the VITAL® system, among 13 products with PAL statements that were tested positive, 8 products (61%) had used PAL correctly, and 5 products (39%) had overused PAL. The risk assessment indicated that 10.8% of the tested products were deemed unsafe and highly risky to allergic consumers. These findings, therefore, call for the establishment of a globally agreed framework for allergen labeling using evidence-based risk assessment tools such as VITAL®, particularly amongst trading countries in developing a more trustworthy risk communication for allergic consumers.

This study investigated the prevalence, type and accuracy of allergen labeling information on 429 imported pre-packaged food products imported from Mainland China sold in Sydney, Australia. Overall, 93.5% of the products complied to the FSANZ's Food Standards Code and included English labels. The 73% of the surveyed products complied with Australian mandatory allergen labeling requirements and stated the presence of allergens in the ingredient lists and allergen summary statements. The 22% of the products contained PAL statements and overall, the wording “may contain traces of” (28.4%) was commonly used. While most PAL statements (69.5%) were in English, a considerable number of PAL statements were only in Chinese (19%). The ELISA analysis revealed that 51.5% of the tested products contained at least one allergen residues, ranging from 0.7 to 297.3 ppm. The 30% of the tested products contained allergen residue levels exceeding the VITAL® Action Level Two (i.e. high risks of allergens) that recommends PAL, where milk (45%) was the most prevalent allergen followed by egg (40%), wheat (35%), and peanut (10%). Among them, 55% did not contain PAL statements and 30% of the positive products with PAL statements contained undeclared allergens (i.e. not specified in the PAL statements). This study deemed 25.8% of the products imported from Mainland China pose potential risks for allergic consumers. This study highlights the necessity of implementing mutually acceptable or harmonized allergen labeling requirements including PAL and risk assessment plans globally.