April 28, 2025 • 10 mins
In this first podcast Patrick McNamara, our Global Innovations and Quality Manager,
Food Services, looks at the reasons why allergens remain one of the Food industry’s
major issues as it faces unprecedented pressure to feed up to 10 billion people.
Patrick introduces how replacement ingredients that meet consumer’s demands for healthier products are introducing new allergen risks, as well as the ever-changing
global and local regulatory environment.
Tune in now!
Speakers:
- Patrick McNamara- Global Innovations and Quality Manager, Intertek Food Services
- Alan Cadman- Business Development Manager, Intertek Food Services
Download our complimentary ebook to learn what a food allergen is, how to test for allergens in food, and the UK and EU Regulations for allergen labelling. Download here!
Follow us on- Intertek's Assurance In Action || Twitter || LinkedIn.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Zoe Comley (00:00):
Welcome to our new podcast series all about
allergens.
Our first podcast will give usa basic insight into allergens
and introduce some key topicsthat will be explained in more
(00:21):
detail over the podcast series.
The first podcast is brought toyou by our global innovations
and quality manager PatrickMcNamara.
and our UK Food BusinessDevelopment Manager, Alan
Cadman.
Over to you, Alan and Patrick.
Alan Cadman (00:37):
Thanks, Zoe, and welcome to everyone listening to
this podcast.
It's Allergy Week in the UK atthe time of recording.
So, Patrick, I hope you'verecovered from our three days at
the Food and Drink Expo at thestart of the month.
I'm aware that allergens arestill a key risk area, but that
didn't come out at the Food andDrink Exhibition.
(00:59):
Why do you think that was?
Patrick McNamara (01:02):
Well, firstly, I think it's probably a good
moment, Alan, to say thank youto anybody who Thank you very
much.
Firstly, you need to look atthe type of event that the Food
(01:35):
and Drink Expo is.
The focus is food innovation,new products, everything that's
new, shopping, innovative, it'shealthy, it's focused on the
positive aspects of food.
And I think that's probably oneof the reasons why the risk
management piece is probably notas evident.
(01:56):
If it was an event run by anenforcement body or a company
who's involved in riskmanagement like ourselves, you'd
probably have seen theallergens, contaminants thing
come up a lot more often.
So I think it's the type ofevent is But also, we shouldn't
conflate something that wasn't aprimary concern with something
(02:20):
that isn't a concern at all.
The fact that people didn'tmention it at this particular
event doesn't mean that it's notsomething that concerns them.
It's still one of the majorissues in the food industry.
And actually, while we'retalking about the expo, Anybody
who attended one of the sessionsover those three days will have
(02:41):
found that the most poignantand pertinent session was
actually on allergen management.
And it was a session hosted byIan Ferris from Birmingham
University.
And part of the panel was JatinPatel from FGS Ingredients.
People who are in the industrywill understand FGS were at the
(03:01):
centre of an issue back inOctober of last year where they
found peanut residue in theirmustard ingredient and Jatin
quite personally spoke aboutwhat that incident cost him and
his company.
And I don't think anybody whoever attended that session and
has an interest in allergenscontrol will ever forget it.
(03:24):
If you weren't there andhaven't seen it, I would urge
you to watch it.
It's available on YouTube.
If you can't find it, drop me aline and I will send you the
link because it's genuinelyworth watching.
To your question, Al, I thinkallergens are still an issue.
I just don't think afun-loving, forward-thinking
food and drink expo was evergoing to be the primary place
(03:47):
where people would use that as aquestion for us, to be honest.
Alan Cadman (03:52):
Thank you for that, Patrick.
So there are clearly lots ofpressures on the food industry.
Do you think that affects theway they look at allergens?
Patrick McNamara (04:01):
Oh, there's no doubt about it.
I think...
We're in an unprecedented ageof pressure on the food
industry.
We're moving towards an erawhere we have to feed up to 10
billion people with crops thatare failing, with climate change
pressures.
We have cost of livingpressures.
(04:21):
People are looking forhealthier products, but at a
price they can afford.
And I think all of these thingsare driving differences in risk
assessments for allergens.
I think if you look at the costpressures, people are looking
for cheaper ingredients,replacement ingredients, supply
(04:41):
chains that lower the cost base.
And I can understand that, butit's not without risk.
Every new supplier you take up,you have to consider where are
they based?
Are the local controls asstrict?
Are they accredited to the samestandard?
Do they have the same level oftraceability?
And actually, what type ofingredients are you swapping in
(05:06):
your reformulation?
The same is true of healthierproducts.
There are health initiativesnow in every major jurisdiction.
And as that takes place and asthat progresses, people are
looking for healthieralternatives.
They're looking for cleanlabels and lower fat, salt and
sugar products.
But again, the replacementingredients, where are the
(05:28):
allergenic risks?
And of course, we've got ourold food fraud as well.
Food fraud has been around formillennia and it doesn't change,
but it always sees a riseduring a time of economic
downturn.
And I think the cost pressuresare a driver for food fraud.
(05:49):
So again, when you don't knowhow your products or your
ingredients have been tamperedwith, that in itself is a risk
of allergen cross-contact.
Then there are regulatorychallenges, as if that wasn't
enough, as if cost, climatechange, a healthier public and
(06:09):
fraudsters wasn't enough tocontend with.
There's also global allergenchanges.
The outcome of the recent Codexreview of allergens has
actually changed the thresholdsthat they advise people to use
as action levels.
And that has changed the vitalprogram, which a lot of
(06:30):
companies use for looking atprecautionary allergen labeling
as well.
And then to compound that,there are individual market
regulations, countries ortrading blocks like the US or
the EU, China or the Mercosurcountries, where they're now
looking at allergens in adifferent way.
There are different labelingrequirements and different
(06:53):
controls that you have to thinkabout.
So what you need to think aboutis where am I sourcing my
ingredients from?
What are the allergen rules inthe market of origin?
But what are the allergen rulesin all the different countries
that I'm selling to?
What labeling reviews do I haveto carry out?
What specifications do I needto check?
(07:13):
You know, there are some thingsthat you can control a lot
better.
Your site controls you cancontrol.
but you can't always controlsupplier behaviour.
So do you need audits,inspections?
Do you need some kind ofaccreditation to look at?
So all these things are drivinga lot of pressures on the food
industry in a way that I don'tthink we've actually seen
(07:36):
before.
Alan Cadman (07:39):
Interesting, Patrick.
So you've touched on newsuppliers as we look to import
ingredients for new markets, butwe're also looking to export
ingredients.
to new markets as well.
Does that bring new risks?
Patrick McNamara (07:53):
I think when you're exporting to a new
market, there's first a lot ofgovernment trade compliance work
that you need to do to makesure your product is compliant.
You don't need to be able tomanage the chain of custody of
your product from where you'reproducing into the market to the
(08:16):
point at which you're sellingto the consumer.
So your product labels, allthat B2C information that the
consumer has to have by law.
We live in an age, of course,where you can buy a lot of
things online.
And There are actually a lot ofvery strict rules on what you
can sell online and theinformation you have to provide.
(08:37):
And unfortunately, those aren'talways adhered to.
But it's wise to know what theyare when you're trying to sell
in an online marketplace aswell.
We live in a very modern worldwith modern risks.
And then we have the very oldworld school of food fraud and
crime.
(08:57):
So all of these things combineto make allergen risk control a
very complex activity, I think.
Alan Cadman (09:05):
Thanks for that, Patrick.
So we are going to look at mostof these areas as we focus.
Some podcasts look at specificareas of allergen risk.
The next podcast will beavailable by the end of May.
In the meantime, pleasedownload our updated Allergens
e-book, which includes the newvital guidelines.
(09:26):
And please, if you get anopportunity, complete our
Allergens survey.
By completing the survey, youwill help inform the future
podcast.
Is there anything you want toadd, Patrick?
Patrick McNamara (09:38):
I just think, Alan, I'm very excited about the
series that we're embarking onnow.
I think we need to remember.
40% of global food productrecalls and a similar number in
the UK actually are caused bymislabelling of allergens or
failure to declare allergens andthat number is not dropping.
(09:58):
So I think if you have aninterest in this or if it's a
risk to you, you're makingcomplex products or importing
from certain parts of the world,I absolutely urge you to
complete our survey because thatsurvey will inform the things
that we talk about, the expertsthat we engage with, and it will
inform the content that wechoose to put in our series.
(10:20):
So anybody listening, you candirectly inform the content that
you want to hear.
So please sign up and take oursurvey.
Alan Cadman (10:30):
Fantastic.
Thank you very much for yourexpert opinion, Patrick, and
thank you everyone forlistening.
Welcome to our new podcast series all about
allergens.
Our first podcast will give usa basic insight into allergens
and introduce some key topicsthat will be explained in more
(00:21):
detail over the podcast series.
The first podcast is brought toyou by our global innovations
and quality manager PatrickMcNamara.
and our UK Food BusinessDevelopment Manager, Alan
Cadman.
Over to you, Alan and Patrick.
Alan Cadman (00:37):
Thanks, Zoe, and welcome to everyone listening to
this podcast.
It's Allergy Week in the UK atthe time of recording.
So, Patrick, I hope you'verecovered from our three days at
the Food and Drink Expo at thestart of the month.
I'm aware that allergens arestill a key risk area, but that
didn't come out at the Food andDrink Exhibition.
(00:59):
Why do you think that was?
Patrick McNamara (01:02):
Well, firstly, I think it's probably a good
moment, Alan, to say thank youto anybody who Thank you very
much.
Firstly, you need to look atthe type of event that the Food
(01:35):
and Drink Expo is.
The focus is food innovation,new products, everything that's
new, shopping, innovative, it'shealthy, it's focused on the
positive aspects of food.
And I think that's probably oneof the reasons why the risk
management piece is probably notas evident.
(01:56):
If it was an event run by anenforcement body or a company
who's involved in riskmanagement like ourselves, you'd
probably have seen theallergens, contaminants thing
come up a lot more often.
So I think it's the type ofevent is But also, we shouldn't
conflate something that wasn't aprimary concern with something
(02:20):
that isn't a concern at all.
The fact that people didn'tmention it at this particular
event doesn't mean that it's notsomething that concerns them.
It's still one of the majorissues in the food industry.
And actually, while we'retalking about the expo, Anybody
who attended one of the sessionsover those three days will have
(02:41):
found that the most poignantand pertinent session was
actually on allergen management.
And it was a session hosted byIan Ferris from Birmingham
University.
And part of the panel was JatinPatel from FGS Ingredients.
People who are in the industrywill understand FGS were at the
(03:01):
centre of an issue back inOctober of last year where they
found peanut residue in theirmustard ingredient and Jatin
quite personally spoke aboutwhat that incident cost him and
his company.
And I don't think anybody whoever attended that session and
has an interest in allergenscontrol will ever forget it.
(03:24):
If you weren't there andhaven't seen it, I would urge
you to watch it.
It's available on YouTube.
If you can't find it, drop me aline and I will send you the
link because it's genuinelyworth watching.
To your question, Al, I thinkallergens are still an issue.
I just don't think afun-loving, forward-thinking
food and drink expo was evergoing to be the primary place
(03:47):
where people would use that as aquestion for us, to be honest.
Alan Cadman (03:52):
Thank you for that, Patrick.
So there are clearly lots ofpressures on the food industry.
Do you think that affects theway they look at allergens?
Patrick McNamara (04:01):
Oh, there's no doubt about it.
I think...
We're in an unprecedented ageof pressure on the food
industry.
We're moving towards an erawhere we have to feed up to 10
billion people with crops thatare failing, with climate change
pressures.
We have cost of livingpressures.
(04:21):
People are looking forhealthier products, but at a
price they can afford.
And I think all of these thingsare driving differences in risk
assessments for allergens.
I think if you look at the costpressures, people are looking
for cheaper ingredients,replacement ingredients, supply
(04:41):
chains that lower the cost base.
And I can understand that, butit's not without risk.
Every new supplier you take up,you have to consider where are
they based?
Are the local controls asstrict?
Are they accredited to the samestandard?
Do they have the same level oftraceability?
And actually, what type ofingredients are you swapping in
(05:06):
your reformulation?
The same is true of healthierproducts.
There are health initiativesnow in every major jurisdiction.
And as that takes place and asthat progresses, people are
looking for healthieralternatives.
They're looking for cleanlabels and lower fat, salt and
sugar products.
But again, the replacementingredients, where are the
(05:28):
allergenic risks?
And of course, we've got ourold food fraud as well.
Food fraud has been around formillennia and it doesn't change,
but it always sees a riseduring a time of economic
downturn.
And I think the cost pressuresare a driver for food fraud.
(05:49):
So again, when you don't knowhow your products or your
ingredients have been tamperedwith, that in itself is a risk
of allergen cross-contact.
Then there are regulatorychallenges, as if that wasn't
enough, as if cost, climatechange, a healthier public and
(06:09):
fraudsters wasn't enough tocontend with.
There's also global allergenchanges.
The outcome of the recent Codexreview of allergens has
actually changed the thresholdsthat they advise people to use
as action levels.
And that has changed the vitalprogram, which a lot of
(06:30):
companies use for looking atprecautionary allergen labeling
as well.
And then to compound that,there are individual market
regulations, countries ortrading blocks like the US or
the EU, China or the Mercosurcountries, where they're now
looking at allergens in adifferent way.
There are different labelingrequirements and different
(06:53):
controls that you have to thinkabout.
So what you need to think aboutis where am I sourcing my
ingredients from?
What are the allergen rules inthe market of origin?
But what are the allergen rulesin all the different countries
that I'm selling to?
What labeling reviews do I haveto carry out?
What specifications do I needto check?
(07:13):
You know, there are some thingsthat you can control a lot
better.
Your site controls you cancontrol.
but you can't always controlsupplier behaviour.
So do you need audits,inspections?
Do you need some kind ofaccreditation to look at?
So all these things are drivinga lot of pressures on the food
industry in a way that I don'tthink we've actually seen
(07:36):
before.
Alan Cadman (07:39):
Interesting, Patrick.
So you've touched on newsuppliers as we look to import
ingredients for new markets, butwe're also looking to export
ingredients.
to new markets as well.
Does that bring new risks?
Patrick McNamara (07:53):
I think when you're exporting to a new
market, there's first a lot ofgovernment trade compliance work
that you need to do to makesure your product is compliant.
You don't need to be able tomanage the chain of custody of
your product from where you'reproducing into the market to the
(08:16):
point at which you're sellingto the consumer.
So your product labels, allthat B2C information that the
consumer has to have by law.
We live in an age, of course,where you can buy a lot of
things online.
And There are actually a lot ofvery strict rules on what you
can sell online and theinformation you have to provide.
(08:37):
And unfortunately, those aren'talways adhered to.
But it's wise to know what theyare when you're trying to sell
in an online marketplace aswell.
We live in a very modern worldwith modern risks.
And then we have the very oldworld school of food fraud and
crime.
(08:57):
So all of these things combineto make allergen risk control a
very complex activity, I think.
Alan Cadman (09:05):
Thanks for that, Patrick.
So we are going to look at mostof these areas as we focus.
Some podcasts look at specificareas of allergen risk.
The next podcast will beavailable by the end of May.
In the meantime, pleasedownload our updated Allergens
e-book, which includes the newvital guidelines.
(09:26):
And please, if you get anopportunity, complete our
Allergens survey.
By completing the survey, youwill help inform the future
podcast.
Is there anything you want toadd, Patrick?
Patrick McNamara (09:38):
I just think, Alan, I'm very excited about the
series that we're embarking onnow.
I think we need to remember.
40% of global food productrecalls and a similar number in
the UK actually are caused bymislabelling of allergens or
failure to declare allergens andthat number is not dropping.
(09:58):
So I think if you have aninterest in this or if it's a
risk to you, you're makingcomplex products or importing
from certain parts of the world,I absolutely urge you to
complete our survey because thatsurvey will inform the things
that we talk about, the expertsthat we engage with, and it will
inform the content that wechoose to put in our series.
(10:20):
So anybody listening, you candirectly inform the content that
you want to hear.
So please sign up and take oursurvey.
Alan Cadman (10:30):
Fantastic.
Thank you very much for yourexpert opinion, Patrick, and
thank you everyone forlistening.
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