The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products
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,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/16/3421 |
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| author | Alexandra Katidi Antonis Vlassopoulos Stefania Xanthopoulou Barbara Boutopoulou Dafni Moriki Olympia Sardeli José Ángel Rufián-Henares Konstantinos Douros Maria Kapsokefalou |
| author_facet | Alexandra Katidi Antonis Vlassopoulos Stefania Xanthopoulou Barbara Boutopoulou Dafni Moriki Olympia Sardeli José Ángel Rufián-Henares Konstantinos Douros Maria Kapsokefalou |
| author_sort | Alexandra Katidi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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 precautionary statement. Milk (38.8%), gluten (32.7%), and soybeans (17.4%) were most commonly declared in the ingredient list; nuts (18.3%), eggs (13.1%), and milk (12.2%) were most commonly declared 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:59:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2060d10f73ad4355a0929b19218fb4ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:59:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-2060d10f73ad4355a0929b19218fb4ae2023-12-03T14:14:57ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432022-08-011416342110.3390/nu14163421The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food ProductsAlexandra Katidi0Antonis Vlassopoulos1Stefania Xanthopoulou2Barbara Boutopoulou3Dafni Moriki4Olympia Sardeli5José Ángel Rufián-Henares6Konstantinos Douros7Maria Kapsokefalou8Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, GreeceAllergology and Pulmonology Unit, 3rd Pediatric Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 12462 Athens, GreeceAllergology and Pulmonology Unit, 3rd Pediatric Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 12462 Athens, GreeceDepartamento de Nutrición y Bromatología, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de Alimentos, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, SpainAllergology and Pulmonology Unit, 3rd Pediatric Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 12462 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, GreeceBranded 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 precautionary statement. Milk (38.8%), gluten (32.7%), and soybeans (17.4%) were most commonly declared in the ingredient list; nuts (18.3%), eggs (13.1%), and milk (12.2%) were most commonly declared 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.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/16/3421branded food databaseallergeningredient listprecautionary statementallergen-free claimsHelTH |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra Katidi Antonis Vlassopoulos Stefania Xanthopoulou Barbara Boutopoulou Dafni Moriki Olympia Sardeli José Ángel Rufián-Henares Konstantinos Douros Maria Kapsokefalou The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products Nutrients branded food database allergen ingredient list precautionary statement allergen-free claims HelTH |
| title | The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products |
| title_full | The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products |
| title_fullStr | The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products |
| title_short | The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products |
| title_sort | expansion of the hellenic food thesaurus allergens labelling and allergens free claims on greek branded food products |
| topic | branded food database allergen ingredient list precautionary statement allergen-free claims HelTH |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/16/3421 |
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