Food allergy is a substantial cause of distress in humans. Several bio
technological techniques can be applied to reduce the antigenicity of
food proteins to produce for instance hypoallergenic infant formulas.
Biotechnological techniques for synthesizing new proteins or new biolo
gical varieties for applications in food are also available. For such
biotechnologically derived protein products (novel foods), allergenici
ty may also pose a major concern. For safety reasons, it is of importa
nce to evaluate the residual antigenicity of modified protein products
, to screen for possible cross-reactivity to prevent reactions in prev
iously sensitized individuals, and to test for sensitizing properties
of new and/or modified protein products. Besides physico-chemical and
immunochemical analyses, several in vitro and in vivo bioassays may be
applied in studying the antigenic or allergenic properties of (new or
modified) food proteins. In this paper, an overview of several availa
ble assays and new developments for determining the antigenic or aller
genic properties of dietary proteins, as well as their possible applic
ations and limitations is presented. Special attention is paid to the
role of the gastro-intestinal tract physiology in food allergy and in
the evaluation of the allergenic potential of food proteins and to the
possible applications of animal models in food allergy research and i
n the evaluation of the allergenicity of food proteins. (C) 1997 Elsev
ier Science B.V.