STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSMENT AND IDENTIFICATION OF ALLERGENICITY IN (NOVEL) FOODS

The incidence of food allergy and the number of incriminated foods are increasing. Furthermore, the severity of the allergenic symptoms comm only observed is worsening. This is a major concern for both the food industry and those regulatory committees in charge of public health. T here is therefore a need to predict and manage the allergenic risk of (new/novel) foods. Observation of immunological cross-reactions betwee n allergens from various origins suggests that they might share common allergenic structures. It may therefore be possible to predict the al lergenic potential of a food constituent from its structure, and there by manage the allergenic risk for human consumers by removing the most immunoreactive parts of the molecule through (bio)technological proce sses. Milk is a good model in the search for means of characterising a llergenic structures in food. Milk protein allergenicity studies demon strate that all food proteins are potential allergens and that allerge nic structures are widely spread throughout the protein molecule. Many of the technical approaches used in the assessment of milk protein al lergenicity can be adapted in the development of stategies for the ass essment and identification of potential allergenicity in (new/novel) f oods. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.