On Aug 21, 2018, Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the revision of Food Allergen Labeling Regulation, which will come into force on July 1st, 2020. This regulation expanded the number of allergen substances from 6 to 11 and added a new label method of warning information as an option.
♦ The 11 allergen substances are (revised content is marked in blue):
(1) Crustacea and products thereof;
(2) Mango and products thereof;
(3) Peanut and products thereof;
(4) Milk, goat milk and products thereof, except lactitol derived from milk and goat milk;
(5) Egg and products thereof;
(6) Nuts and products thereof;
(7) Sesame and products thereof;
(8) Cereals containing gluten and products thereof, except glucose syrup, maltodextrin and alcohol produced from cereals;
(9) Soybean and products thereof, except highly refined or purified soybean oil (fat), tocopherols and their derivatives/analogs, phytosterols and phytosterol esters;
(10) Fish and products thereof, except fish gelatine used as carrier for vitamin or carotenoid preparations; fish gelatine used as thickening agent in alcohol;
(11) The use of sulphites etc., at concentrations of 10 mg/kg or more in term of total sulfur dioxide which are to be calculated for final products.
♦ As for the warning on label, besides the original one (labeling on the package with the term of "This product contains name of substance", "This product contains name of substance, unsuitable for susceptible individuals", or other synonymous terms), the added method is "Once the name of allergic substances is claimed in the product name, all the allergic substances of product shall be included in the product name."