Investigation on the understanding and implementation of food allergen management among Thai food manufacturers

•Implementation of food allergen management among Thai food industries was studied.•Dominant market and food safety experience were significant for allergen awareness.•Thai's allergen labeling regulation would be driven by WTO (Codex) rules.•Thai food manufacturers have potential capability to adopt food allergen regulation.

The understanding and implementation of food allergen management among HACCP-certified Thai food companies were surveyed during 2008-2009 by questionnaires and direct interviews with quality control managers of the companies. Forty of 72 respondents answered that they implemented a food allergen control program as part of existing product quality control and safety management. The awareness and understanding of food allergen management depended on the company's dominance in the market place as well as experience in food quality control and safety management. Although Thailand has no food allergen labeling legislation, the respondents expected that food allergen labeling legislation will soon be adopted in Thailand. Earlier implementation of labeling regulations has been driven by adherence to WTO (Codex) rules. The results of this survey indicated the substantial effectiveness of the present allergen control programs of Thai food manufacturers, and also their potential capability of food allergen management for domestic products at a level equal to that for export products.