The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products

Abstract

Branded food composition databases (BFCDs) are valuable information tools that meet multiple user needs. Recently, recognising allergies and intolerances as an emerging concern for various stakeholders, BFCDs evolve to embed information on allergens. This study aims to expand the Greek BFCD, HelTH, to include allergen information for its 4002 products. A new file was added to the structure of HelTH, and data were curated to record label information. In 68.4% of products, at least one allergen was present in the ingredient list and in 38.9% at least one allergen in a precau- tionary statement. Milk (38.8%), gluten (32.7%), and soybeans (17.4%) were most commonly de- clared in the ingredient list; nuts (18.3%), eggs (13.1%), and milk (12.2%) were most commonly de- clared in precautionary statements. Allergen-free claims were present in 5.3% of the products and referred mostly on gluten and milk. In general, no statistically significant differences were identified between the nutritional composition of allergen-free claimed products and their equivalents. This study delivers an expanded BFCD that provides organised and detailed allergen information; new insights on the presence of food allergens in branded foods and issues of concern regarding allergen declaration that need to be addressed in order to improve label information.