The Australian Wine Research Institute

The FSANZ Draft Assessment Report recommends that an exemption for isinglass allergen labelling for wine is granted in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

There is still one round of public consultation remaining before the assessment report is finalised, however, it is anticipated that the exemption might be granted within the next 6 months and possibly although not probably, before the next vintage.

The release of the FSANZ Draft Assessment Report has generated some media interest. The AWRI is providing the below information for the benefit of Australian wine producers.

Research undertaken over the past six years in Australia, France and Germany provides consistent results that fish-allergic individuals do not experience an adverse allergic reaction when they consume wine (or beer) that has been fined with isinglass.

The research has included double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge clinical studies with commercially available wines and also with wines with added isinglass.

The research has also included analytical studies that show that residual isinglass is not observed in isinglass-fined wines at the microgram per litre level, due to the racking and filtering winemaking processes that are undertaken subsequent to fining and prior to bottling.

In addition, the allergenic protein in fish is parvalbumin, which is not usually a constituent of isinglass. The manufacturing process for isinglass now includes an additional 2 to 3 steps to ensure that no residual parvalbumin remains in the isinglass. This manufacturing process has been adopted internationally by all isinglass manufacturers.

Furthermore, the European Food Safety Commission has also granted isinglass a permanent exemption from allergen labelling for wine (and beer) in the European Union, based on sound science.

Further questions should be directed to Creina Stockley, Health and Regulatory Information Manager (creina.stockley@awri.com.au) at The Australian Wine Research Institute and the John Fornachon Memorial Library (infoservices@awri.com.au) can be contacted for any research reprints.

The FSANZ Draft assessment report can be accessed at:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/A490%20Isinglass%20DAR%20FINAL.pdf

Further reading:

Rolland, J.M., Apostolou, E., Deckert, K., de Leon, M.P., Douglass, J.A., Glaspole, I.N., Bailey, M.B., Stockley, C.S., O’Hehir, R.E. (2006) Applied nutritional investigation. Potential food allergens in wine: Double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and basophil activation analysis. Nutrition 22: 882–888.

Rolland, J.M., Aposolou, E., de Leon, M.P., Stockley, C.S., O’Hehir, R.E. (2008) Specific and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for analysis of residual allergenic food proteins in commercial bottled wine fined with egg white, milk, and nongrape-derived tannins. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56: 349-354.

Stockley, C., O’Hehir, R., Rolland, J. (2006) Is allergen labelling necessary for Australian wine? Aust. N.Z. Wine Ind. J. 21(3): 17-21.

Weber, P., Steinhart, H., Paschke, A. (2207) Investigation of the allergenic potential of wines fined with various proteinogenic fining agents by ELISA. A. Agric Food Chem. 55(8):3127-33.