Food allergen ELISA techniques

Strong spices and flavors such as chillies, peppers, and herbs can also reduce the detection of food allergens. Proteolytic enzymes present in herbs can partially digest food allergens and make them less reactive in ELISA techniques. Other chemicals present in samples can interfere. In such cases it may be necessary to modify the extraction technique using higher volumes of extraction solution to dilute the interfering chemicals. 

Among the analytical techniques described in previous sections, ELISA was found to be particularly suitable for routine detection of soy as an allergen in food products. Since commercial kits contain all the materials needed for test execution and the equipment required is comparatively cheap, the assay could also be carried out in unspeciaUzed facilities. The analytical procedure is quite easy and fast, so it could be useful for a quick check of possible contamination or residues from soy. The main disadvantage is that industrial processing could destroy protein structure, and for this reason results related to processed foods should be regarded as presumptive only, never as absolute. 

Specific antibodies of the IgE class against both inhaled allergens and food are most commonly detected by the radio-allergosorbent technique (RAST). More recently, enzyme-linked assays (ELISA), which obviate the need for radioactive reagents, have been developed, but these have yet to... 

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