Back in 2017, looking for an exciting new category for the 2017 FreeFrom Food Awards, we took a risk and launched a category for products that contained none of the top 14 food allergens as defined by EU.
We expected to get about 5 entries but thought it was worth giving it a try. In the event, to our amazement and delight, we got closer to 35…. Who knew that there were so many products out there free of so many of the major allergens.
(To remind any of you who just might have forgotten, they are:
- Cereals containing gluten (including wheat, barley, rye and oats)
- Milk and milk products
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts
- Lupin
- Sesame
- Soya
- Sulphites
- Celery
- Mustard
- Fish
- Crustaceans
- Molluscs)
The category became established and we have repeated it each year since. But it has always been dogged by two issues.
Gluten free oats
The law obliges us to exclude products containing gluten-free oats because oats are listed as one of the top 14 allergens – even though 95% of freefrom consumers are concerned about oats from a gluten perspective rather than an allergen one. I will post on this aspect very soon but for the purposes of our No Top 14 category, it meant that we had to exclude products that were free of the other 13 allergens but did include gluten free oats.
The individuality of allergy
Allergy reactors (people who have allergic reactions to certain foods) are very varied. Someone who is anaphylactic to milk, soya, eggs and is gluten intolerant may well be able to eat peanuts and nuts. So peanut puffs which include nothing else but peanuts and are high in protein, are an excellent freefrom food for them. Similarly, someone who is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soya and eggs may be totally fine with gluten and with all cereals. So wheat, barley, rye and oat-based products will provide them with valuable and nutritious additions to their daily diet.
But sticking firmly to the legal ‘top 14’ list meant that we could not be flexible enough to include any of those much needed products, no matter how excellent their freefrom credentials might otherwise be. So what to do….
Reviewing the criteria
Along with our relaunch this year, we did an in depth review of all our categories and we decided that, as far as the No Top 14 went, maybe we needed to think outside the legal box. So, where did this list of 14 actually come from?
It is in fact an arbitrary group of foods, drawn up by European Food Safety Authority. It is based on 20 years worth of research around Europe to try to discover which foods caused most allergic reactions in most people. It is neither a definitive nor an exclusive list of food allergens – and is more or less relevant depending on where in Europe you are. (For example, very few people UK suffer from celery allergy.)
Not everyone agrees that these 14 were the right foods to include. Others believe that the list should have been longer and should include kiwi and/or other foods such as peas/legumes that are now being widely used as alternatives and to which an increasing number of allergy reactors are reacting.
Stepping outside the box
We therefore decided that for the purposes of the FreeFrom Food Awards No Top 14 category, while our ban on PAL (may contain warnings) would remain, we would actually increase the number of allergens on the list to 15 – but that entrants would only have to exclude 14 of them.
This means that, in the examples above, the peanut puff would be eligible to enter as it was free of all the other 14 allergens on the list. Similarly, a product using gluten free oats but free of the other 14 could also enter.
At the same time this allowed us to reach out to the increasing numbers of those reacting to another allergen which appeared to be causing wide spread problems.
So, why did we choose peas/chickpeas as our 15th allergen? For no hard and fast reason (and we might well change it or add a different allergen next year) except that our social media interactions suggest that peas/chickpeas are becoming a serious problem for many with multiple allergies. So identifying and celebrating wheat free products which do not automatically turn to pea or chickpea as a substitute could be really helpful for the multiple allergy reacting community.
Taking the law into our own hands?
We were slightly concerned that the freefrom community might think we were being somewhat high handed here and taking the law into our own hands. But we are really not. This is just a category in a set of awards. We are not asking anyone to change the law – just trying to make the category more inclusive both for the freefrom industry and for the consumer.
Readers’ comments would be very welcome…..
Drinks Vending machines – beware
You may like to consider corn as your next allergen – my clinic work and social media suggests it is becoming a huge problem for many and is ubiquitous in foods as a ‘safe’ gluten free alternative. Many people don’t realise that things like citric acid, dextrose and maltodextrin, for example, are made from corn nowadays, which makes it very difficult to avoid. I am finding many people who are gluten-sensitive are not getting well because they are actually more sensitive to corn than they were to the gluten itself. Please help us corn-sensitives find safe food! Thank you.
Corn was definitely a front runner, Micki – for just the reasons that you state. In fact, it has been an issue since the early days of freefrom as it was always the first alternative that gf manufacturers turned to – as you know only too well!! We need to see how this year’s awards go but I think that there is an argument for broadening our allergen range but still requiring that entries are free of 14 of them. Watch this space!
Fab, thank you x
Interesting choice. But i agree these do seem to be a more common allergy now. I have heard of quite a few other members of the Fabaceae family such as Beans and Chickpeas and Lentils and Peas becoming common allergens these days. I suppose it is not really surprising seeing as Peanuts and Soya (and Lupin too although allergies to that seem less common) are in the same family as them and Peanuts and Soya are very common allergies. Although perhaps it may have been better to just use Fabaceae as the 15th allergen rather than Chickpeas and Peas only? Or do you think Chickpeas and Peas allergies are more common than allergies to Beans and Lentils and other Fabaceae members are?
I would personally very much like to see the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family included. There does not seem to be much awareness of this allergen but i think it is more common than a lot of people think. It seems to be more common than Celery and Mustard allergies are. I have an extremely serious allergy (anaphylaxis) to the entire Nightshade (Solanaceae) family. Even a tiny little trace amount can give me a serious reaction so i have to be extremely careful. If you are not aware this includes, Potato, Aubergine, Peppers, Chillies, Goji Berry, Physalis, Tomatillo, and a couple other rarer fruits and vegetables that are not really eaten in the UK (but Sweet Potato and Peppercorns like Black Pepper and White Pepper are ok as they are luckily not in this family). It is difficult as they are just used in so many things so it can be very hard to avoid them. I would love if one day this became an official allergen as it would make life easier. It would be great to see this added for the next awards as your next allergen? Maybe it could be the 16th but still products just have to be free of 14 of them like you are doing now with Chickpea and Pea maybe? But i think that this allergen could be worth considering for the next awards? It would be brilliant to see the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family added for the 2022 awards!
I know it is nothing to do with you but what i would be interested to know is how Celery and Mustard and Lupin were chosen? Are these ones really that common? While the other 11 all seem quite common these three seem to be so rare. I am someone who has been to lots and lots of allergen and free from shows and events and read lots of blogs and stuff about allergens yet i have never even heard of anyone being allergic to them.
I have never met or even heard of anyone who is allergic to Celery or Mustard or Lupin so to me it seems odd they choose to include these in the top 14 list. I am sure that there are some people but they just do not come across as very common ones. Also why just Celery and not the entire Apiaceae family? Similarly why just Mustard and not the entire Brassicaceae family? I would have thought that someone allergic to these things would likely react to the entire family rather than just one species in that family but not to others very closely related ones? Or is it common to be allergic to just one plant but not others that are very closely related in the same family? Who knows why they choose these! Certainly seem like some odd choices though and i think the 14 allergens should be reviewed at some point to see which ones are actually common allergies!
I look forward to the 2021 awards! It will be interesting to see which products win this time!
Thank you for your lengthy comment Brian. We did think of including the whole Fabaceae family but thought that we might be opening the gate too wide and we should tread cautiously. Similarly, we considered the nightshade family to which we know a lot of people react (see the Nightshade section on our Foods Matter site). However, as we are not really quite sure how this will work, we decided, at least for this year, to keep the options quite tight.
As regards celery, mustard and lupin. I believe that both celery and mustard allergies are quite common in southern Europe – and both the research and the regulations are designed to be Europe wide. As for lupin, it is included not for itself but because it cross reacts with peanuts and a significant number of those who are allergic to peanuts will also react to lupin.
Yes, we too are looking forward to this year – we believe that it will be really exciting.
Re: corn. The 14 allergens are clearly about allergy, and while I understand Micki’s point about gluten sensitives reacting to corn, as ACAAI state here (https://acaai.org/allergies/types/food-allergies/types-food-allergy/corn-allergy) corn allergy (ie IgE) is very rare, so I personally would be against corn being considered ahead of for example other legumes, buckwheat, kiwi, pine nuts and so on for this specific category or any adaptation of it.
There is perhaps an argument for a grain free category of some sort?
Point taken, Alex. And yes I definitely think that there is a case for a grain free category. Next year…..