Allergens

Food manufacturers have had a legal obligation to provide allergy information on their labels for some time now. Soon, however, restaurants and other catering establishments must also be able to provide such information. A comprehensive allergen management system is therefore essential.

Detecting large numbers of allergens

An important component of such a system is the detection of allergens (contamination) in raw materials and final products, for example, or after cleaning. Wageningen Food Safety Research has therefore developed antibody-based screening methods that can be used to detect allergens simply and on location. As more than one allergen may be found in a particular product, methods are also being developed to detect several allergens simultaneously.

Validation methods can supply additional information

In addition to these screening methods, Wageningen Food Safety Research is also developing robust, mass spectrometry-based validation methods. Screening methods are used to select samples that may contain allergens from a large number of samples. Validation methods, on the other hand, provide complete or supplementary information for the unambiguous identification and possibly quantification of the allergen.

Make use of our expertise

Wageningen Food Safety Research provides support relating to:

  • Legislation
  • Quality management
  • Sampling
  • Analyses (multiplex immunoassays and LC-MS/MS)
  • Training courses and demonstrations