LGC, the UK's National Measurement Institute for chemical and bioanalytical measurements, has developed a new method for the detection of allergens in complex food matrices.
This new method developed to detect allergens in complex food matrices has been successfully demonstrated by LGC for the quantification of protein allergens in wine.
Wine offers a relatively challenging model system and lysozyme, an egg protein, is potentially present due to the use of egg white as a fining agent.
The research surrounding the development of this new allergen-detection and measurement method complements activities at LGC that use DNA to detect allergenic nuts within food products.
LGC has led a collaborative project on the development of a sensitive and accurate DNA-based screening approach for the detection of allergenic nuts in food.
Although allergens are, almost without exception, proteins, DNA-based methods can offer a valuable additional tool when multi-screening several allergenic foods or when seeking a confirmatory analysis to a protein-based detection technique; they do not measure the actual hazard but rather the allergenic ingredient with high specificity.
This multiplex assay, tested through an inter-laboratory blind-comparison study, offers an alternative, reliable and sensitive method for detecting simultaneously many important nut allergens, including almond, brazil, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut, peanut, pecan, walnut and sesame seed.
