Food allergy is a major public health concern. Risk assessment and risk management of food allergens are often dependent on the analytical detection and quantification of allergens. Equally important is a clear reporting of the resulting data to avoid a lack of transparency and thus to protect sensitive consumers and support EU regulatory compliance. The European Network of Food Allergen Detection Laboratories (ENFADL) established a Task Force to develop best-practice guidance for reporting allergen testing results. A survey of 25 laboratories from 19 EU Member and EFTA States revealed examples of good practice. However, there was substantial variation in metadata provision, especially for recovery, conversion factors, measurement uncertainty, and detection limits. Qualitative methods (mainly PCR) typically reported presence/absence together with a limit of detection (LOD), while quantitative methods (predominantly ELISA) showed greater variability in the format and inclusion of key parameters. Drawing on the survey data and recommended best practices by ILSI-Europe and the ALLKITS project, the Task Force defined minimum reporting requirements, detailed in Table 5, to promote that results are interpretable, comparable as far as possible, and fit for regulatory, contractual, and risk assessment purposes.

ROBOUCH Piotr;  WALKER Michael J.;  EMONS Hendrik; 

2026-05-26

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC146053

978-92-68-38834-1 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40670,    OP KJ-01-26-138-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC146053,   

10.2760/7548055 (online),