Allergens in Foods

A considerable proportion of the general public experiences negative health effects triggered by certain components contained in their habitual diet. Susceptible persons can develop an intolerance, e.g. against lactose, due to the lack of a digestive enzyme, some can not tolerate certain food additives or increased levels of certain amino acids, e.g. glutamate, and others suffer from adverse reactions mediated by the immune system. The latter is characterised by the action of IgE antibodies against the offending food and is known as food allergy. The symptoms caused by allergic reactions range from rather mild manifestations (urticaria) to life threatening events (anaphylactic shock). Therapeutic approaches to treat food allergies have been tried with variable success. Usually the recommended option is to eliminate from the diet the food(s) or food ingredients to which hypersensitivity has been found. Allergic persons need to know whether the food items they purchase contain allergenic ingredients; they have to rely on the truthfulness of information given on the label of prepared and packaged food items. National and supra-national legislation has been put in place which requires food business operators to declare whether ingredients with a known allergenic potential have been used during manufacturing. The Codex Alimentarius General Standard for the Labelling of Prepacked Food requires, for example, the mandatory labelling of the presence of eight classes of food ingredients that are known to cause hypersensitivity in susceptible consumers (cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, and tree nuts), while European Community legislation (Commission Directive 2007/68/EC) extends the list to include also celery, mustard, sesame seeds, lupin, and molluscs. Analytical testing systems are needed by the food industry to enable them to test whether allergens are present in their raw materials, the finished products and whether production lines have been correctly sanitised, by the food inspection authorities for market surveillance and by academia to enable and stimulate research into food allergy and allergen detection. In this issue of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry we attempted bringing together views from different angles. The majority of the reviews and original contributions focus on analytical aspects; however, biochemical, immunological and clinical aspects are covered as well.

PASCHKE Angelika;  ULBERTH Franz; 

2009-10-15

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

JRC54154

1618-2642,   

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r1347j7l10601238/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC54154,   

10.1007/s00216-009-2989-0,