Considerations for testing in the context of action levels
Section 5 : Key learnings
• When deciding whether to precautionary label a product, sole reliance should not be placed on results of allergen testing ; rather testing should be used in combination with calculations and information gathered to inform the decision.
• Action levels cannot be used for environmental samples as results of testing environmental samples are generally qualitative and are not reported in units to enable comparison with an action level.
• It is important when selecting a method of analysìs in view of action levels to take into account the the specificity and sensitivity of the test and to consider the measurement uncertainty.
• When preparing results of food allergen testing for comparison with art action level confidence in the results is required. This can be achieved by analysis of samples that have been purposely contaminate with the allergen of interest to check for over-or under-estimation of the amount of allergen present (spiking),
• The use of conversion factors may be required to calculate total protein of the allergenic food from analysis results. The choice or conversion factor needs to take into account what the contaminating allergenic material is, and will need to be justified and documented.