Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) – a guide for food service

Food allergies are severe and can be life-threatening. As a food service provider, you’re expected to serve safe and satisfying food to your customers, and one of the most important ways to do that is to learn about food allergies.

Food allergies occur when a person’s immune system recognises the protein in a particular food as a threat, and the body responds with physical reactions (e.g. hives, upset stomach, difficulty breathing).

In Australia, food allergies are common, and prevalence is increasing¹, affecting 1 in 10 babies, 1 in 20 children and 1 in 50 adults². 

Most fatal allergic reactions are triggered by food served out of home³, and admissions to hospital for life-threatening anaphylaxis have increased over time⁴. 

While many different foods can cause allergies, most problems arise from a handful of common allergens. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand require these common food allergens to be declared on food labels and available for customers to view in food service businesses. 

Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) aims to make allergen information clearer and more consistent for allergic customers. 

The Food Standards Code standard 1.2.3 and Schedule 9 detail all the allergen labelling requirements. Below is a summary of the main changes relevant to the food service industry. 

Plain English Allergen Labelling

1. Prescribed names for allergens 

The Food Standards Code requires all allergens to be declared using prescribed names using one plain English word. Individual tree nuts must now be declared separately, along with fish, crustacea, mollusca, and gluten-containing cereals.

2. Packaged foods – location and formatting requirements 

All packaged foods are required to follow PEAL. Allergens must be declared bold each time they appear in the ingredients list. An allergen summary statement, starting with the word ‘contains’ (in bold), must be included underneath (or alongside the ingredient list) on the label and be distinctly different to the ingredient list. The font size of the allergen summary statement must be equal to or bigger than the words in the ingredients list. If a ‘May Contains’ statement is required, this must appear on a separate line.

For example:

Contains Almond, Walnut, Gluten, Oats.
May contains Egg, Soy.

3. Food items made on-site or pre-packaged – must declare allergens 

Any food items made on-site or pre-packaged on-site by food service businesses must comply with PEAL and will need to include a label with the allergens bolded in the ingredient list and an allergen summary statement. 

4. Menu allergen information – must be available on request to customers 

Food Service businesses must keep accurate and up to date information about allergens on their menus and any food or beverage they sell, which should be available on request to any customer. 

An allergen matrix is a summary table of all allergens in a recipe or food menu item that can help staff quickly and easily identify all declared allergens. 
 

Nestlé Professional has an Allergen Matrix template you can download and use in your business. 

Food Allergy or Intolerance – What’s the Difference?

Many people think they’re allergic to a food when they’re actually intolerant. And it’s easy to confuse. Unlike food allergy and Coeliac Disease, food intolerances don’t involve the body’s immune.
Food intolerance can be triggered by naturally occurring or added food chemicals that irritate nerve endings, giving rise to symptoms. Intolerances may also result from the body’s inability to process food chemicals, such as lactose. Food intolerances are also dose-dependent and may require a threshold of the culprit food chemical to be reached before symptoms occur. 
On the other hand, food allergies are generally immediate, and in sensitive individuals, life-threatening reactions can result from even tiny amounts.
 

For more information on managing allergens in your workplace, check out the Food Allergens edition of NutriPro.  
For more information, resources and online allergen training, check out The National Allergy Strategy, The Allergen Bureau and Food Allergy Education 

References for this article:
1. Loh W. and Tang M.L.K. (2018). The Epidemiology of Food Allergy in a Global Context. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15092043 
2. Food Allergy Education website article: Food Allergy Basics, available at:  https://foodallergyeducation.org.au/basics 
3. Mullins, R. J., Wainstein, B. K., Barnes, E. H., Liew, W. K., & Campbell, D. E. (2016). Increases in anaphylaxis fatalities in Australia from 1997 to 2013. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 46(8), 1099–1110. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.12748 
4. Mullins, R. J., Dear, K. B. G., & Tang, M. L. K. (2015). Time trends in Australian hospital anaphylaxis admissions in 1998-1999 to 2011-2012. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 136(2), 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2015.05.009