Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of expanding the list of allergens which require highlighting on food products to include botanically classified ingredients such as pine nuts.

There are many foods that people might be allergic to, but the current list of 14 allergens, defined in legislation, are those established as the most common allergenic ingredients or processing aids of public health concern across Europe. They must be clearly identified on prepacked foods and communicated effectively when eating out. Foods like pine nuts are not classified as tree nuts and as such are not named in the regulations.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is working with the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology and other stakeholders to gather more information on hidden and emerging food allergens, which will help assess the need for further research and work in this area. Any change to the current list of the 14 mandated allergens would need to be supported by robust evidence and thoroughly assessed.

The FSA continues to monitor the situation closely but at present there are no plans to amend the regulated list of 14 allergens. It advises those with an allergy or intolerance to foods outside of the mandated allergens should be able to check the ingredients list and avoid foods they need to, and in restaurants they should ask the person serving them if the food they wish to avoid is used in any of the dishes to make the right choices.