Which quality standards need to be fulfilled for being awarded the seal?

The quality criteria exceed legal requirements (Directives 2003/89/EG and 2006/142/EG).

1.) Allergen management
Allergen management aims at the reduction of allergens that may be accidentally present in food. This is accomplished by improving the production process through, e.g.

• surveillance of ingredients used for the production of food
• surveillance of the production process 
• training of employees

Background:
Hidden food ingredients that are not declared on the ingredients list pose a major problem for allergic people. Cross contamination, that means hidden food allergens that have entered products unnoticed, occurs, e.g. when food ingredients are harvested or transported together with other foods, or during the manufacturing process, e.g. when nut chocolate and nut-free chocolate are made on the same production line.

2.) Additional declaration
Food products that have been awarded the ECARF Quality Seal of Approval do not only fulfil the legal requirements for labelling allergenic food ingredients, but provide an additional declaration list of possible allergens. This list includes all ingredients that have been knowingly used in the manufacturing process, and - exceeding the EU regulations - are labelled also if they occur in very small amounts in the recipe.

 

3.) Regular sample tests of the end products to avoid cross contaminations
In order to check possible cross contamination regular tests of the end product will be performed by an external auditor. The end product should contain less than 10 mg/ kg of the following hidden allergenic food items:

Cereals containing gluten, shell fruits/nuts, eggs, peanuts, soya, mustard, crustaceans, fish, milk, celery, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, sesame seeds, lupine, molluscs.

However, this is not a guarantee for safe food. For some of the above mentioned items, precise chemical test methods to determine the exact amount of allergenic food contained in the product are not available. Furthermore, the amount of hidden allergens in food depends on the kind of end product. In some cases, manufacturers may guarantee lower allergen concentrations or even "allergen-free" products. 

According to recent estimations about 1-5 per cent of the German population suffer from food allergies. These are caused on the one hand by a growing number of new food products (exotic fruits, vegetables, cereals, etc) and on the other hand by an increasing use of convenience and processed foods.

The most frequent food-allergic reactions occur to

• cow's milk and hen's egg
• nuts, spices, cereals, fruits
• fish, crustaceans, meat

Symptoms of food allergy include

• reactions of the skin (atopic dermatitis, hives/urticaria)
• gastro-intestinal symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, etc)
• itching of the mouth and throat
• asthma

Diagnosing food allergies is very difficult in most cases, because food products usually consist not only of one, but of a mix of different ingredients. Further diagnostic problems arise from hidden food allergens, e.g. nuts in whole milk chocolate or milk in orange juice. Food allergens, like soy, peantu, celery, or spices, occur very often in convenience and processed foods.

As from 25 November 2005 a new EU directive for food labelling entered into force. This law requires food manufacturers to provide a detailed list of ingredients for their products. The list, however, includes 14 potentially allergenic ingredients, detailed information on possible hidden food allergens need not be labelled. Yet, these hidden allergens may cause major problems for allergic patients. Severely affected allergics should consult an allergologist and dietitian to avoid hidden allergens, which may occur e.g. by cross-contamination during the manufacturing process, and to determine their individual threshold level by provocation tests.

The following ingredients will be labelled if knowingly used in the production process:

The 14 legally required allergy declarations (EU guidelines 2003/89/EG and 2006/142/EG)	Additional declaration
Cereals containing gluten: Wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut, and hybrids of or products created from these grains	Spices: Anise, caraway, camomile, coriander, cinnamon, pepper
Nuts: Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, products created from these nuts	Vegetables and plants of the nightshade family
Eggs and egg products	Fruit: Melon, kiwi, mango, banana, apple, pear, cherry, peach, plum, nectarine, apricot, lychee
Peanuts and peanut products	Carrageen
Soy and soy products	Guar flour
Mustard and mustard products	Carob bean flour
Shellfish and shellfish products	Poppy seeds
Fish and fish products	Balsam of Peru
Milk and milk products	Millet
Celery and celery products	Buckwheat
Sulphur dioxide or sulphites in a concentration of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/l listed as So2
Sesame seeds and sesame products
Lupine and lupine products
Molluscs and molluscs products