Assessment of the impact of the argentine legislation on food allergens: five years of a journey with successes and challenges

Food allergies represent a public health problem. The declaration of allergens on the label implied a fundamental advance for risk management, since avoiding the triggering food through proper labelling is currently an irreplaceable measure of care for the susceptible population. An assessment of the impact of the national legislation was carried out in reference to the declaration of food allergens between 2017 and 2022. The ANMAT internal search engines were used for the withdrawals of food products from the market and contrast ed as an indirect measurement tool for the impact assessment of the implementation of Section 235 seventh of the Argentine Food Code (CAA, for its acronym in Spanish). Forty-three products (biscuits, noodles, chocolates, vegetable-based foods) were analysed. The allergen declaration was present in 53.5% (23 out of a total of 43). Some inconsistencies were present in 70% of them (16 out of a total of 23) and 14% (6 products out of 43) used precautionary labelling. The reactive paradigm of food control stood out above that of audits, monitoring programmes and, in short, prevention programmes, since the system was activated fundamentally through the reactive route of complaints. This represented 72% of the categorised products.