Allergen Testing as a CFIA Risk Management Tool

Stan Bacler, Karl Kurz and Daniel Langlois,

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Laboratory Operations

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is tasked with the adminstration of Canadian Federal Food Regulations to ensure the safety of the food supply. Food allergens have become one of the key food safety activities in the CFIA food inspection program. As one part of this inspection program, allergen testing can be an important tool which may provide key risk management information that cannot be obtained through other means. Allergen testing can be used to establish if a food presents an allergen risk, determine what the level of risk would be and contibute to the CFIA stategy to manage the risk. How allergen testing fits into the CFIA allergen inspection program will be discussed.