FOOD ALLERGY - PREDICTIVE TESTING OF FOOD-PRODUCTS

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.