Published
A food allergy occurs when a person's immune system reacts to allergens in food. Most food allergies are caused by peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, sesame seeds, fish and shellfish, soy, lupin and wheat. These must be declared on the food label, whenever they are present in food as ingredients (or as components of food additives or processing aids), however small the amounts present.
On 25 February 2021 the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) was amended to introduce new requirements for the labelling of allergens in food.
The changes will make allergen information on food labels clearer and more consistent for food-allergic consumers by requiring simple, plain English allergen declarations in a specific format and location on food labels.