Handbook of Food Allergen Detection and Control

Handbook of Food Allergen Detection and Control, Second Edition continues to be an essential resource of scientific and technical information in the food and analytical communities. This book provides information on current and emerging technologies for detecting and reducing allergens to improve allergen control overall. Written by experts in the field, it offers a wide scientific perspective on allergens and includes hot topics such as food allergen labeling and consumer perspectives on food allergen labels. Chapters are fully revised to include the latest information in the industry, including practical applications of new methods and control strategies. The book is useful for anyone in the food supply chain.

The book reviews current and emerging technologies for detecting and reducing allergens, as well as issues such as traceability, regulation, and consumer attitudes. Following an introductory chapter by a distinguished expert, Part One covers allergen management throughout the food chain. Part Two details current and emerging methods of allergen detection in food, with Part Three covering methods for reducing and eliminating allergens in food. Finally, Part Four focuses on the control and detection of individual food allergens and the risks each one presents in food manufacturing.

• Provides new insights from clinical studies such as allergy treatments and thresholds
• Presents new developments in risk assessment, and in the risk management of allergens
• Includes the application of new methods and sampling strategies for food allergens

Simon Flanagan is an internationally acclaimed specialist in the field of food allergens. He is a biochemist by training and gained experience of working in a variety of sectors within the food industry before joining Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) in 2002. In his RSSL role Simon has worked with global blue-chip manufacturers, retailers and ingredient suppliers, as well as manufacturers of specialist dietary products to provide guidance on risk assessment, risk mitigation and management and analytical techniques for allergen detection in foods. Simon’s remit involved a broad scope of projects, from futureproofing corporate allergen policy through to independent expert site risk assessment and training programs and incident management.

Since 2005 Simon has been a key advisor to the Cadbury and more latterly Kraft / Mondelēz International on allergen control and responsible for developing policy, strategy and training. In 2016 Simon became an extended member of the Food Safety Team and is currently the Global Lead for Food Allergens and Food Allergy advising the business on both proactive allergen strategy and reactive lead for allergen incidents.

Simon is affiliated with numerous professional bodies, industry groups and technical committees (ILSI Europe, FDF, BRC, EFSA, FSA, FARRP, FAO/WHO) and has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals. He was also principal editor for the ‘Handbook of Food Allergen Detection and Control’. He was presented with a technical leadership award in 2014 for contributions to food safety and a SOFHT industry award for the development of RSSL’s practical allergen workshops. He was also awarded ‘Food and Drink Scientist of the Year’ at the FDF awards in 2018.

Simon was one of the first to develop a practical methodology for quantitative allergen risk assessment (QRA), which is becoming widely accepted as industry best practice; QRA was recently recommended by The WHO/FAO Ad-Hoc expert group on Food Allergen Risk Assessment for the application of Precautionary Allergen Labelling.