Baking & Snack - October 2018 - 98

ALLERGEN CONTROL

However, scheduling production in such a sequential order
isn't always that easy, noted Robert Burgh, president, Nexcor
Technologies. "Typically, you produce the lightest product
first, then the darkest product and finally allergens," he said.
"However, if the shelf life isn't long enough, or there are production scheduling or logistic issues, then bakeries may have
to intermix, but that's the worst-case scenario."
Steve Taylor, PhD, co-director of the Food Allergy Research
and Resource Program (FARRP), firmly believes all bakery
operations are not created equal. "In the bakery and snack
category, you have a lot of operations that can run a single formula for hours or days because their cookies have a couple
months of shelf life," he observed. "Then I've been in bread
bakeries with 37 formulations where each one needs to be
produced every day to stay in the market because it's fresh
bread, and it's perishable. Managing that many changeovers
with allergens on one shared line is really difficult."

Keep everything in control

Often cakes and sweet
goods contain dairy
and other higher risk
ingredients and require
proper scheduling.

Mr. Burgh suggested documenting allergens from the first
moment they enter a plant's door. In production, he added,
keeping track of every changeover is a critical portion of risk
mitigation for any food manufacturer. "Have a plan in place
on any given product changeover," he said. "If there are any
allergens, list them in what order they're used, and make sure
they're well documented so bakeries can show it on any audit,
whether it's internal or external."
In bread bakeries, one way to avoid allergen issues involves
taking them out of the formula. "There are a lot of nonallergen
replacer ingredients available," Mr. Inman said. "Where possible in bakery products, I would formulate out allergen ingredients such as eggs, soy, milk and whey to eliminate the cleanup, inspection, testing and documentation required."

98 Baking & Snack October 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Is there soy in your wheat flour?
Bakers need to be careful about
testing their products for soy
because a significant portion
of wheat flour in America may
have traces of soy residue in it.
That's because of agricultural
commingling where wheat and
soy flour are harvested using the
same equipment, stored in shared
systems or transported in common
trucks or rail cars.
"We don't think they have to
label it in flour, nor do we think
it's hazardous because soybeans
are not as potent of an allergen
compared to others such as peanut
ingredients based on the emerging
clinical data," said Steve Taylor,
PhD, co-director of the Food Allergy
Research and Resource Program
(FARRP).
When testing finished products,
positive results prompt some
bakeries to assume that there is
undeclared soy remaining on their
shared lines, but often it's miniscule
amounts from commingling.
In 2016, the Food and Drug
Administration investigated how
low traces of peanut residue were
found in soft wheat flour. Such
an incident is rare, according to
Joe Baumert, PhD, FARRP codirector. "Commingling of peanuts
is less likely to occur because the
processors use a closed system for
harvesting and processing," he said.
FARRP recommends evaluating
commingling on a risk-based
assessment to determine if minute
traces of allergen residues have a
public health and safety impact.
"We don't advocate labeling for soy
residue in flour as this would lead
to a decrease in the food choices for
soy-allergic individuals and would
have minimal effect in increasing
food safety," Mr. Taylor said.
For more information on allergen
testing and control, go to farrp.unl.edu.

http://farrp.unl.edu http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - October 2018

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