Food manufacturers in the UK are responsible for identifying and managing the 14 known allergens. While reported incidents relating to food allergens decreased between 2023 and 2024, it’s still a pressing matter. No manufacturer wants to deal with the fallout from a product recall – which costs money and consumer confidence (and could reduce long-term sales if the public don’t feel safe buying your brand.)
With allergens, including nuts, dairy, soy, and gluten, among the top causes of food recalls, food producers must implement strict controls across every stage of production.
In this article, we explore how food manufacturing works when allergen control is a priority, and how businesses can meet these demands without compromising on scale or quality.
How Does Food Manufacturing Work with Allergen Controls in Place?
Standard food manufacturing processes are built for efficiency, but when you factor in allergen-free production demands, there are added considerations.
Segregated production lines previously would have been one of the only ways to guarantee avoidance of cross-contamination. However, with consistent improvements to Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems, allergen residues or bacteria can be fully removed between product runs.
Relying on self-sufficient Clean-in-Place systems doesn’t mean your entire production will now be allergen free. It’s a holistic approach that requires ingredient traceability, training on the latest regulations, strict standard operating procedures to know what to look out for, and thorough checking of labels.
Creating allergen-free foods is a team effort. Everyone from engineers to operators must understand allergen protocols and compliance requirements. Ingredient traceability should go down to the supplier level for thorough allergen risk management.
These practices are part of a systemic approach to risk reduction that affects every layer of the manufacturing process. With the latest technological innovations in food manufacturing, you can tackle these challenges more easily.
Ways to Ensure Allergies Are Addressed in Manufacturing
To consistently produce allergen-free products, manufacturers should consider the following process requirements and technology:
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
The UK Gov site outlines the steps you need to consider to satisfy food safety inspectors that you have a compliant HACCP plan in place. Inspectors may request to see your records, so make sure the role of updating these is clearly assigned. The food industry’s version of a risk assessment, you should identify any potential allergen hazards that need to be avoided, removed or mitigated. These points are your ‘Critical Control Points’. Pencil in regular checks and keep a full record.
Validate Cleaning
As a failsafe, ATP testing or specific allergy swab tests can help prove that the cleaning process removed allergens effectively. It detects food residue and bacteria, so your team can be confident they’re working with a clean production line if the test comes back with a low reading. The ATP test detects the presence of Adenosine Triphosphate, an energy molecule in all living cells. If you use rapid allergen detection tools, logging all results ensures full traceability and audit compliance.
Zoning & Segregation
Physical separation of allergen and non-allergen production areas. If you want absolute certainty that a product contains no allergens and to confidently label your products as allergen-free, you may want to consider complete segregation of equipment. One line could be used for 100% allergen free products, for instance. That way, there’s less risk of contamination being able to occur through human error.
If you’re producing ‘free-from’ products and labelling them as such, the laws are much stricter, so you’ll need to be 100% confident that the products are free from any of those stated contaminants.
Precautionary allergen statements are less strict as they still warn consumers that they ‘may contain’. So, if you are mixing products with the same equipment or production line, this statement is the more appropriate one to use. The same goes for products where you’ve manufactured them in the same factory as a known allergen – this should also be declared in your labelling.
The right combination of design, process engineering, and ongoing monitoring can reduce the risk of contamination and recalls from allergens.
How Can S4 Engineering Help You Create Allergen-Free Foods
We understand that for food manufacturers, allergen control is a matter of consumer trust and legal responsibility. With food regulations tightening, manufacturers can’t afford to take shortcuts.
Our team designs and installs hygienic CIP process systems that:
- Support zoned production with tailored layouts for allergen control
- Include automated CIP systems designed to meet rigorous allergen cleaning standards
- Integrate with traceability systems and quality control workflows
- Use hygienic valves, pumps and fittings from leading brands to ensure easy maintenance and low contamination risk
We’ve supported brands across food, beverage, and dairy manufacturing in developing scalable solutions that meet today’s strict food safety requirements. At S4 Engineering, we help food businesses create robust manufacturing environments that make allergen-free production possible, while maintaining profitability. We achieve this through bespoke CIP systems that are built for thorough sanitisation between product runs.
Looking to improve allergen control in your food manufacturing process?
Contact S4 Engineering today to find out how we can support your allergen-safe production goals. Whether you need to design a more hygienic production layout or implement more effective cleaning systems, S4 Engineering can help.
