ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL ALLERGENICITY OF NEW FOOD PROTEINS

Assessing the potential allergenicity of transferred proteins remains one of the most difficult aspects of the overall safety assessment for transgenic foods. Allergenicity assessment must consider several fact ors, including the source of the transferred protein, expression level s, the physical and chemical properties of the protein, and similarity to known allergens. Although no single factor can be considered defin itive, consideration of all these factors together may provide some in dication of potential allergenicity.