The Effect of Food Processing on the Detection of Food Allergens

Arjon van Hengel, Marcel Brohée, Linda Monaci, Antonio Gomez-Galan, Elena Scaravelli, Jørgen Nørgaard, Hubert Chassaigne

European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Retieseweg, B-2440 Geel, Belgium

Reliable detection and quantification methods for food allergens are necessary in order to improve consumer protection and to ensure compliance with food labelling regulations. Food processing such as heating can have a significant influence on the stability of specific proteins or DNA fragments used as markers for the detection of specific allergenic ingredients. This must be taken into account during the development and the use of methods for food allergen detection.

The heat stability of individual (allergenic) proteins and that of target DNA needs to be investigated to assess the potential for their detection in food products. The analysis of thermally treated allergenic foods allows an assessment of the stability of markers and might identify tracers for thermal treatments.