Literature Searches and Reviews Related to the Prevalence of Food Allergy in Europe

<p>The objectives of the contract resulting from the present procurement procedure are the collection, collation and analysis of published and unpublished data related to:</p>

<ol>
<li>the prevalence of food allergy (IgE mediated and non-IgE mediated) in different regions of the world (e.g. North America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand) and primarily in individual European countries for different age groups in relation to each of the following food allergens: milk/dairy, eggs, cereals, peanuts, nuts, celery, crustaceans, fish, molluscs, soy, lupin, mustard and sesame;</li>
<li>the natural history of food allergy to each allergen listed above (changes in prevalence and/or severity with age) and on changes in prevalence trends over time at a population level, whenever available;</li>
<li>the most prevalent (emerging) food allergies in different European countries (i.e. food allergens other than those listed above) and changes in sensitisation patterns where known or emerging;</li>
<li>the effects of food processing on the allergenicity of foods in relation to each of the following food allergens: milk/dairy, eggs, cereals, peanuts, nuts, celery, crustaceans, fish, molluscs, soy, lupin, mustard and sesame, and on the new analytical methods available to analyse/detect these food allergens in processed foods.</li>
</ol>

<p>To achieve these objectives the contractor should carry out comprehensive literature searches to identify and retrieve all related information/data published in peer-reviewed journals and should make reasonable efforts to identify and retrieve unpublished data. The data retrieved should be further analysed following well-accepted methodologies and criteria in order to identify relevant scientific data. The information should be transferred in a concise way to EFSA including the full list of references used for each single food allergen. References not considered pertinent should be listed and a reasoning why these references were not considered pertinent should be provided.</p>