90 likes | 300 Views
Confiscate or reinstate? That is the question for Food Allergy in Ireland. Ruth Charles, Paediatric Dietitian, MINDI. Ballinderry Clinic, St. Francis Hospital, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath . info@nutrikids.ie. Irish Food Allergy Network October 2009.
E N D
Confiscate or reinstate? That is the question for Food Allergy in Ireland.Ruth Charles, Paediatric Dietitian, MINDI.Ballinderry Clinic, St. Francis Hospital, Mullingar,Co. Westmeath.info@nutrikids.ie
Irish Food Allergy NetworkOctober 2009. • Increased presentation of allergy at dietetic OPD clinics. The associated burden of care and quality of life issues are significant. • No dedicated HSE funded Childhood Food Allergy (CFA) service in the Republic • Wealth of knowledge and experience currently exists. • General consensus reached on the need to network, collaborate, share resources, reconfigure existing structures and avoid duplication. • Stakeholders database. Affiliation with IAAI (EAACI).
IFAN members: 61 • Nutrition & Dietetics (Paediatrics, Adult & Community) 23 • Nursing (Allergy, Respiratory, Dermatology) 23 • Medicine (Paediatrics, Dermatology & Community Health) 7 • Nutrition industry 3 • Allergy Academia 2 • Food and nutrition legislators, enforcers & trainers 2 • Patient support groups 1
IFAN Issues • Patient issues • DIAGNOSIS, management & rechallenge: who, where, how • No basic GP/A&E/HCP training • Awareness/understanding of allergy and implications lacking • Replication/duplication best avoided • Food issues • Food labelling • Eating outside the home
Food labelling & the law • Legislation European Directives 2003/89/EC and 2006/142/EC • All ingredients • Presence of 14 recognised allergens intentionally added to prepacked foods • Not applicable to low level unintentional contaminants or non prepacked. • www.fsai.ie
EAACI Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Meeting February 2011 Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Alliance FAAA • Criteria for use of precautionary statements • Major allergens declared • Simple language clear terms • Consumer communication European Federation of Allergy & Airways Disease EFA • Packaged and non packaged foods • Abolish precautionary labelling • Establish thresholds ( Taylor et al. Clin Exp Allergy,2004; Moneret-Vautrin. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2004; Crevel at al. Allergy 2008. Working groups: ILSI Europe, Europrevall, CONGEN etc)
Food Allergens & labelling survey June 2011. www.fsai.ie • Survey: affected by Food allergy intolerances • Crude, 509, voluntary, biased, web based, 5 questions, 85% medically diagnosed. • Peanut & tree nuts, Egg & other, Milk • Analysis: 229, no label/precautionary egg, nut, soy • No allergen labelling 11/106 (nut 2, egg 5) • Precautionary labelling 7/108, 93.5% had undetectable egg, peanut, soy.
Food Allergens & labelling survey June 2011. www.fsai.ie Conclusions • Scepticism and low consumer confidence in precautionary labels is justified • Zero risk unfeasible • National and EU registry of severe allergic reactions (Worm at al, Allergy, 2010) : detect prevalence • Safety/labelling thresholds: processes for risk assessment & robust monitoring systems
Where to next? • The patient & family • IFAN • huge knowledge and skill base • aims & objectives • Lead/chair