A mandatory, unique, standardized register for all EU member States is necessary, despite the difficulties of implementation. However, such a register is still a long way off.       Introduction   While most people around the world can enjoy their meals without a second thought, for an unlucky few, what is on their plate could b [...]

A perfect tool for implementing the allergen analysis as part of the food safety quality control assessment.   It is well known that food allergies are an immune system reaction to a food or a substance in food. Even a tiny amount of allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In s [...]

New assay for measurement of gluten in oats and avoiding false negatives in the analysis of milk substitutes.     While there are many kits available for the detection of gluten from wheat, barley and rye, there has not been a reliable kit for the detection of oat prolamins until now.  ELISA Systems has recently released a kit for t [...]

An International Standard based Real-Time PCR detection portfolio.   DNA based technology is a relatively new approach for the detection of food allergens, a field traditionally dominated by immunoassays.   DNA methods are indirect methods to detect food allergens as they do not detect the allergenic protein itself, but the DNA sequences [...]

Introducing alternative and sustainable sources of proteins in the human diet is crucial to guarantee nutrition security while reducing the impact on the environment. Allergenicity assessment of novel ingredients aims to provide safe food to consumers.         Introduction     The world population is increasing by 1% e [...]

Do method sensitivities comply with recommended allergen reference doses? The ThRAll-EFSA project is developing a tool to quantify allergens in complex foods using MS techniques for improved analytical accuracy.     The size of the food allergy problem Food allergies are a growing health burden worldwide. Although the true prevalence of f [...]

While consumers around the globe have gradually lost trust in poorly-applied precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) schemes, the UK food industry appears to be willing to embrace the new allergen approach utilising allergen thresholds.      Introduction Food allergies are a significant problem, with an estimated 20 million sufferers [...]

Do we know how many people suffer from food allergies?        The socio-economic impact of food allergies  Allergy-related health loss is estimated to be of the same order of magnitude as prostate cancer or rheumatoid arthritis and it may be more severe than that of heart disease, skin cancer, or Parkinson’s disease ( [...]

European Union, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zelando: an update      Abstract  As part of an EU-funded project (FP7) to develop “Integrated approaches to food allergen and allergy management”, a database was constructed from publicly available information on allergen recalls between 2011 and 2014 in Eur [...]

Product labeling is uneven in different countries and, even at the European level, legislation has gaps both for food producers and for consumers. Some countries, such as the UK, are moving to implement new national legislation.     Introduction  According to the final RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) report for 2018 (Eur [...]

 Standardization of methods could soon be easier. Introduction Effective food allergen risk assessment and food allergen management are important to protect allergic consumers and to comply with allergen labeling regulations. Such approaches require reliable analytical tools for the detection of allergens in food. Due to the nature of the analyt [...]

ELISA kits can hardly be considered quantitative and LFDs play a key role in the food industry but performance is rarely documented.     Regulatory environment  EU Regulation No 1169/2011 specifies fourteen substances or products causing allergens or intolerances for which food labeling is mandatory when they are known ingredients. I [...]

FDA is increasing its efforts to enforce FSMA. “Cross-contact” must be controlled in items exported to the US. Rapid methods play a key role in the Allergen Control Plans of manufacturers. New regulations for private third-party food laboratory accreditation are expected soon.The authors of the recently published “Prevalence and Severity of F [...]

Comparing food producers and caterers: what differences exist for managing allergens?  The majority of food allergens so far studied show common features: they are low molecular weight proteins (10-70 kd) and they are stable in the presence of heat, proteases, and acid. Allergic reactions are relatively dose-independent and there is great variabi [...]

The point of view of the test kit manufacturers. Service laboratories and industries, as well as governmental bodies, rely on ELISA kits for the detection of food allergens. Recently, a number of guidelines for the validation of ELISA methods for detecting allergens have been issued by the analytical chemistry community (AOAC) and by technical bod [...]