Food allergen reference material

Validated methods are just as important as the availability of reference materials for allergens [21], As peanut allergy is highly prevalent and peanut products may enter into the production of various food matrices, e.g. chocolate, ice cream, biscuits and breakfast cereals, it is essential to have a peanut reference material both for research and routine analysis. Peanuts available in the food sector are derived from various sources, such as peanut vari-eties/types from different geographical origins, and are treated by various technological processes, such as dry and oil roasting at various temperatures for various times. 

Reference Material for Monitoring Foods Containing Specific Allergenic Substances should be used in establishing kit standards as well as in model-processed food samples [2]. 

There are also commercially available real-time PCR kits for celery detection, such as SureFood Allergen Celery from R-Biopharm. Generally, there is no information from PCR kit suppliers about the target for the assays, including the length of the amplicons. Information on the limit of detection in foods related to the use of a clearly specified reference material is also often missing. 

Food products are prone to accidental or deliberate abuse anywhere in the food processing/storage/distribution/consumption cycle, starting from raw materials to finished products. Faced with this problem a food analyst needs rapid, sensitive, reliable and cost effective techniques. Immunoassays are ideally suited for this type of tasks and their role in food diagnostics is expanding due to the numerous analytes like adulterants/additives, allergens and contaminants/toxins that it can detect. For more detailed information on applications of immunoassays one can refer to some of the recent review articles and books (11-13, 38, 44). 

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