Food allergens detection methods

Goodwin, P.R. 2004. Food allergen detection methods A coordinated approach. J AOAC Int 87(6) 1383-1390. 

Mohammed I, Mullett WM, Lai EPC, Yeung JM (2001). Is biosensor a viable method for food allergen detection Anal. Chim. Acta, 444(1) 97-102. 

III. REGULATION OF DETECTION METHODS FOR FOOD ALLERGENIC INGREDIENTS... 

The MHLW described the validation protocol criteria in the 2006 official guidelines to standardize the Japanese official method for specific allergenic ingredient detection. The outlines of the validation protocol criteria for the food allergenic ingredient quantitative and qualitative detection methods are shown in Tables 4.7 and 4.8, respectively. 

TABLE 4.7 Japanese guideline criteria for validation protocol of quantitative detection methods for food allergenic ingredients"... 

However, we need to emphasize that although the in vitro determination methods used for detection of food allergens are highly sensitive and precise, their role is mainly auxiliary—they help us learn more about food allergens. 

In order to correctly design analytical procedures used for the detection of food allergens, it is necessary to have basic knowledge of food product chemistry to know how to collect, prepare, and store food samples to be able to fragment, mix, disintegrate, and extract samples to know (or be able to find quickly) relevant food quality standards and admissible contents of particular food ingredients and finally to understand precision of determinations, their sensitivity, and detection threshold levels, reproducibility, and errors of determination methods. In addition, it is essential to be able to gather the results of assays, process them with the aid of a computer and statistical methods, and to present the analytically derived data. 

Hefle, S. 2006. Methods for detecting peanuts in food. In Detecting Allergens In Food, S.J. Koppelman and S.L. Hefle, Eds., pp. 183-200. Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, U.K. 

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