Research project NP/DD/15 (Research action NP)
The project aims at establishing a database concerning the substances contained in food and able to induce food over-sensitivities in certain patients. It will allow to propose a list of products devoid of these substances.
This list will only be distributed among physicians and dieticians. It will allow to extend the restrictive alimentation and to reduce the risks of nutritional deficiency in these patients.
This work is a part of the EFID project, which aims at establishing an European network on computerised data concerning the food level in substances inducing adverse reactions. In Belgium, this project has already received the approval of the "Conseil Superieur d'Hygiene", of the "Ministere de la Sante publique" and of the "Fondation pour la Prevention des Allergies".
The ingredients and/or the additives actually selected for Belgium (the present project) are the following products and their derivatives: cow milk, goat milk, lactose, egg, wheat, soy, gluten, sulphites, AZO dyes, benzoates, biogenic amines (including polyamines).
The industrial media will be sensitised to the importance of the project for the consumers.
The gathering of information useful to the Bank will come from different departments of each participating firm. Documents on data gathering and on information conformity will be established.
In the case of substances responsible for allergies or for cytotoxicity phenomena, the methodology will be particularly rigorous, since traces of these molecules can induce a serious symptomatology, eventually an anaphylactic shock.
A chemical examination will be essential even if the substance may be added in food following the Belgian or European legislation. The methods existing and/or used in the industrial or University areas will be the object of an inventory and a method of reference, reliable for each substance will be determined.
A list of foods, which will have to be analyzed, will be established on the basis of the Belgian and European legislation and on the basis of the nutritional or even hedonic requirements of each patient category.
The foodstuffs will be indexed in the alimentary families defined following the NUBEL classification.
The results will be published in French and in Dutch on lists and/or diskettes and will be validate each six months from the publication date. The data will be checked each six months.
Globally, the project aims at the improvement of the public and psychic health of patients suffering of food over-sensitivity.
Substances responsables d'intolérances alimentaires: état des lieux de la normalisation : rapport final
Dandrifosse, G. - Dufourny, G. Bruxelles : SSTC, 1999 (SP1087)
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