The Allergen Bureau is delighted to provide our members and the global food industry with these fantastic new food allergen management resources.
Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling for Australia and New Zealand
The Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling for Australia and New Zealand is a partnership document of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and the Allergen Bureau. It replaces the much-loved 2007 Guide.
The Guide describes industry best practice for the management of allergens, allergen labelling, and allergen communication. In this Guide, ‘allergens’ are the foods or substances that are listed in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) Section 1.2.3—4 Mandatory declaration of certain foods or substances in food.
The Guide is freely available from both the AFGC and Allergen Bureau websites.
Food Industry Guide to the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL®) Program Version 3.0
The Allergen Bureau’s Food Industry Guide to the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL®) Program Version 3.0 replaces the VITAL Program Guide Version 2.0 from 2011. Version 3.0 incorporates a major review by the VITAL Scientific Expert Panel of the science underpinning the VITAL Program as described in the Summary of the 2019 VITAL Scientific Expert Panel Recommendations.
The document provides an introduction to VITAL, the VITAL Procedure and supporting information. It is freely available from the Allergen Bureau website.
VITAL® Standard Version 1.0
The Allergen Bureau’s VITAL® Standard is a supplementary certification program for food manufacturers that are already certified to GFSI recognised food safety management standards that include allergen management. The document provides guidance for food manufacturers seeking certification to the VITAL Standard. It contains the scheme rules for management of the VITAL Standard (part A), and the auditable standard (Part B). It is freely available from the Allergen Bureau VITAL website.
VITAL Online Version 3.0.0
To support the release of the VITAL Program Version 3.0, VITAL Online – the web-based VITAL Calculator, was updated from v2.3.30 (previous version) to v3.0.0 (updated version) on Monday 28 October 2019 at 3:00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (4:00am same day UTC), VITAL Online Version 3.0.0 includes the following key changes and additions:
- an updated set of Reference Doses (see Summary of the 2019 VITAL Scientific Expert Panel Recommendations)
- the addition of a Reference Dose for celery in the European Union legislation
- updated tree nut groupings
- update functionality
VITAL Online Users will be notified of these changes via a “pop up” message when they next sign in to VITAL Online.
VITAL Program Version 3.0 Training
A new VITAL Training Package covering the VITAL Program 3.0 and changes to VITAL Online has been developed by the Allergen Bureau – and provided to Training Providers endorsed to deliver VITAL training. As well as Australia and New Zealand, there are VITAL Training Providers based in the Africa, Europe and North America, and many of these VITAL Training Providers also offer online and virtual VITAL Training services. We recommend you contact individual VITAL Training Providers to discuss your needs for VITAL training.
These new resources were launched at the Allergen Bureau AGM and Member Meeting, Sydney, on 24 October 2019.
Engagement with key stakeholders on the key changes to VITAL and the implications for industry and consumers will be held throughout the remainder of 2019.
The Allergen Bureau welcome your feedback and trust you make use of, and enjoy, these new industry resources.
