Allergen Bureau Resources

The 2023 Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling for Australia and New Zealand is a partnership document of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and the Allergen Bureau.

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) table to section S9-3 in Schedule 9. The Guide was updated in 2023 with additional information about the declaration of cereals.

This 2022 released guide, and the Raw Material Risk Matrix Questionnaire assists industry to identify and manage agricultural cross contact risk.

Please note the Raw Material Risk Review Questionnaire downloads as a ZIP file.

The Allergen Risk Review website is a freely available interactive factory map that shows where allergen risks can occur in different areas of a food manufacturing facility. Work your way through the interactive factory map, by clicking on each icon, to learn about the allergen risks and discover ways to address these challenges.

Unexpected Allergens in Food provides the food industry with a list of foods, ingredients and raw materials that may unexpectedly contain allergens. It also provides food business operators (FBOs) with questions that they can ask their suppliers to support their allergen risk review process. This revised and updated 2022 version of the previous 2021 and 2011.

Introduction to allergen principles for the food industry

The Allergen Bureau Food Allergen Fundamentals presentation gives a general overview of food allergens and provides references to a variety of resources available to assist the food industry with the complex task of managing allergens.

This presentation has been developed as a free resource for
i) those people new to the subject of food allergens in manufacturing, and
ii) those people in the food industry who feel they might benefit from a ‘going back to the basics’ refresher.

This guidance to the food industry, together with education and associated activities, is designed to improve the nature and consistency of allergen information provided to consumers where a dark chocolate allergen risk review anomaly occurs.  This occurs where dark chocolate is manufactured following production of milk chocolate, i.e. milk remains in the dark chocolate at variable levels, often above the Allergen Bureau VITAL Program Action Levels where precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) would be recommended. The presence of milk is predictable and known and cannot be eliminated or minimised sufficiently, despite good manufacturing practice (GMP) and the commercial practicality of implementing HACCP.

Key Resources

VITAL 4.0 Summary and FAQ

This document provides an overview of the updates to the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL) program regarding the adoption of ED₀₅-based Reference Doses (RfDs) for determining precautionary allergen labelling (PAL). This change reflects the recommendations of the FAO/WHO Expert Committee to Codex and ensures the VITAL Program remains at the forefront of best practice evidence-based science.

The document includes a list of global priority and non-global priority allergens with their updated RfDs, and answers frequently asked questions aiming to provide clear guidance for food businesses, to increase consumer understanding of why risk assessments derived under the VITAL Program are meaningful.

Food Industry Guide to the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL^®) Program Version 4.0

The Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL) Program has been developed to provide a risk-based methodology for food manufacturers to use in assessing the impact of allergen cross contact and to provide appropriate precautionary allergen labelling (PAL). The application of this approach aims to avoid the indiscriminate use of PAL and thereby preserve its value as a risk management tool. It aims to minimise risk while communicating effectively to allergic consumers.

VITAL^® Online Calculator

VITAL Online is the user-friendly, web-based VITAL Calculator. VITAL Online allows you to store the allergen status of ingredients and processing profiles for use in multiple recipes, record the assumptions in your VITAL risk assessment, and create an Action Level report using the interactive VITAL Action Level Grid. The Allergen Bureau encourages you to seek VITAL Training and register an account to try VITAL Online.  Note: reports generated from Non-subscribed accounts are examples only.

VITAL Best Practice Labelling Guide for Australia and New Zealand – NEW VERSION BEING RELEASED SOON

This guide focuses on precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) statements. PAL statements are voluntary and not included in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code).

This document is designed as a companion to the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL Program) and FIGAML, it should be referenced alongside these guides. The examples in this guide are set out in the same format as the outcomes from VITAL Online.

The 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. Manufacturers that achieve VITAL certification may use the VITAL Mark on the products within their scope of certification.