1 The Major Nine Allergens

In 2004, Congress passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act that identified eight foods as major contributors to food allergies. Those eight foods became known as the Big Eight.

As of January 2024, The Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act identified sesame as the ninth major food allergen, so it must be labeled as an allergen on packaged foods and dietary supplements.

There are four distinct areas of allergen contact concern:

1. The ingredient itself
2. The components of the ingredient
3. The cooking method and cooking medium used
4. Cross–contact in both the kitchen and dining room

The Big Nine

Today the nine foods that make up the Big Nine are: milk*, eggs, tree nuts and nut milks, peanuts, shellfish, fin fish, wheat, soy, and sesame.

*It should be noted that milk would be the milk of bovine cows. However, people who have a cow – milk allergy may also be allergic to milk from other animals such as goats or sheep. Therefore, it is best to eliminate all mammal milk.

The Components or Derivatives

Not only is it the main ingredient of these nine foods, but it may also be the components or the derivatives of the food. For example, with an egg allergy, the person may be allergic to both the yolk and the white and therefore cannot consume any product that contains egg white albumin, a sub-part of egg whites. If a person has an allergy to milk, they would not be able to consume products with dry milk solids listed as an ingredient. A person who is allergic to peanuts would not be able to consume any products made in the same processing plants as other nuts are processed. And the examples go on and on.

The Cooking Method and Cooking Medium

It is necessary to look at the cooking method and the cooking medium. An allergy-free food can become cross-contacted with an allergy food by the method of cooking that is used. For example, chicken (non-allergy food) fried in a communal fryer that processes shellfish is now not safe for the person with a shellfish allergy.  During the cooking process, the chicken has absorbed the oil that the shellfish was cooked in and now contains shellfish protein residue; thus, making it unsafe. Another example: a person with a dairy allergy orders a plain hamburger, by accident, the cook places a piece of cheese on the burger for less than 1 second. This initial contact is all that is needed for the burger to be cross-contacted with the milk protein enough to cause an allergic reaction.

The list can go on and on, which is why it is so important to train the employees on food allergies and menu ingredients, and the importance of ingredients staying separated so that no cross-contact results.

As you can see, it can be very overwhelming to keep the guest safe, as someone has to be responsible for knowing all of the ingredient components of all of nine allergy foods and how to keep each ingredient separated during the cooking and serving stages.

It is also important to remember that any person can be allergic to any food, and most times if a person is allergic to one food they are often allergic to many. In addition, a person can develop an allergy to a food that they previously did not have a problem with. In the case of an allergy is  unknown to the guest, while the liability may not completely fall to the restaurant, it is all the more reason to make certain the establishment can prove that proper allergy protocols are consistently held at a top priority.

Being the manager of a multi-faceted restaurant comes with the responsibility of keeping the guest safe, and this responsibility has many layers. One misstep can lead to the guest becoming ill or even dying. Food allergy management is an area that takes much dedication. As the operation, the ingredients, and the staff all change over time, consistent monitoring and refining are key in making sure everyone stays safe and healthy.

Cross-Contact versus Cross-Contamination

Cross-contact is defined as the unintentional transfer of allergens from one food or surface to another through food preparation, processing or handling. In other words, cross-contact is when the proteins of the allergen(s) come into contact with a food that does not contain the allergen.

Remember, to the guest without the allergy, the food item is safe. However, to the guest with the allergy, only a small amount of the protein may be enough to cause a reaction.

Cross-contact is different from cross-contamination in that cross-contamination is the transfer of illness-causing bacteria to another food or surface thereby making everyone who eats the contaminated food ill. They are not the same but are often mistakenly interchanged.

One other large distinction: when there is cross-contamination of bacteria to another food that is going to be thoroughly cooked, that bacteria will be destroyed, as long as the cooking process has the food reach a temperature which kills the pathogen (i.e., cooking a hamburger will not eliminate non-typhoidal Salmonella, but cooking a chicken breast will eliminate E. Coli). However, if allergen protein is cross-contacted, any cooking process will not eliminate the allergen and a reaction may still result.